Welcome once more, both returning readers and new ones! Chapter 3 is here! We are progressing bit by bit. Still, big things are coming. We are still in the second day story wise, so things will be picking up in due time. Before you hop on the story, however, I have to clarify something to avoid confusion.
The PokeMap I'm following is "PokeJapan - Version 5 by NikNaks93", and I suggest you look it up to get a clear idea of what happens with the travelling.
Nothing else! See you at the bottom, and enjoy reading!
September 19, 2022, 00:20am
Outside Wela Club, HeaHea City, Alola Region
Ash slowly turned around. His auburn eyes devoid of any warmth. A freezing cold gaze laced with slowly building rage pierced through her very soul, his mouth twitching in mild disgust.
"What do you want, Maple?" he spat, his grimace still bordering on disgust.
"Wh... what..?" May whispered in response, shaking. She was violently taken aback by his cold and completely hostile reaction to her. She has never seen such hateful hostility from him against anyone. Even when he was possessed by the King of Pokelantis he didn't look as dangerous as he looked now. He was acting as if she was filth that he stepped on too many times.
"Meowth got your tongue, Maple? Instead of stuttering like a useless mess, state the reason for your presence. I'd rather not spent that much time on you. I already wasted one and a half year along with all of the rest of the years of scarcely communicating with you and trying to be there for you while you were actively distancing yourself." He continued with an air of confidence and authority, saturated by a nasty pinch of pained hate.
In all honesty, May felt something like being judged in front of a King during the Dark Ages while she was a filthy peasant. Thus, she couldn't respond immediately. Her mind froze and started breaking inside her head. Why was he so hostile against her... Finally, she managed to regain her little surviving sanity and after gulping, she responded.
"Can we talk? Please? It hurts me seeing you this way... What did I possibly do to you? What happened to you?"
"Ah, yes, you want to talk." Ash chimed and lit a cigarette, getting a cocked eyebrow from May. He took a long, overdrawn breath of nicotine and after exhaling it he turned towards the Club, looking up towards the rooftop patio that hosted the exclusive club area reserved for the VIPs. No normal human could attempt anything to get the attention of people seven stories high while on ground floor. Ash however, thanks to Aura, he was no normal human.
"DIANTHA! FIND KIAWE AND SEND HIM TO ME" A voice loud enough to cause May to wince and cover her ears thundered across the street. Everyone was too drunk to pay any mind. She looked up, and she saw a curious dark-gray haired beauty looking down and nodding before disappeared back on the roof.
After around five minutes of complete silence, a shirtless, very tan man with black hair and red highlights poking out of his head appeared. He wore and intricate necklace around his neck and his shoulders and upper back were decorated with something black resembling a tattoo. He was wearing red shorts and a maroon belt that had extensions looking like feathers on the sides.
"Ash! Finally, your colleagues can't stop ordering! Weird of you to want a chaperone to-" Glancing at May, the words froze in his throat. "Oh. Shit"
"I want entry to the Private Fourth please. She wants to have a discussion." He spat coldly, but trying to not sound hostile to his long time friend. The friend in question didn't dare talk, he just gestured them to follow him. And, they did.
They squeezed their way through the madness of the ground floor, trying to reach a silver, closed elevator. As always, the Wela's floors were packed with people to the point of struggling to move, being the biggest dance club in all of Alola. Every floor from the ground up was packed, the exceptions being the VIP patio on the roof and the Private Fourth, which was literally the whole Fourth Floor of the club as a private dance room. Fully soundproof, the fifth and third floor couldn't hear anything from it, and the fourth could only hear a muted buzz of music, too subtle to bother the people on the fourth. It had its own sound system and console kitted with a next gen laptop, letting the users of the Private Fourth to play whatever music they desire.
Tonight however, no music would grace the sound-proofed walls of the floor. Unless you can count Ash Ketchum's slowly dwindling patience and slowly rising anger as music. Perhaps for Dawn, an angry Ketchum on a tirade would be better than music to her ears.
After finally reaching the elevator, they promptly entered it with Ash keeping as much distance from the downtrodden May as possible. Kiawe stood in front of the elevator panel and lowered his eyes in front of an iris scanner. When the process was completed, he grabbed his pendant of a golden clover and pressed it on an equally shaped and sized slot on the panel, enabling the use of the Fourth Floor button. In complete silence, the elevator finished its trip and the doors opened, revealing a well lit and silent floor.
"You know how it works from here Ash. When you're done, just go to the patio where they're waiting for you. Good luck" Kiawe said in a hurry and promptly disappeared back in the elevator which ascended, leaving Ash and May alone in the Private Fourth.
Ash paced towards the music console and opened a small cupboard on the wall, retrieving a bottle of alcohol, origins or type unknown to May. He opened the bottle. "So. Seven years late, but here, nonetheless. Whether it is to waste my time, her own time, or everyone's time is a question to be answered." He took a large sip of the bottle, shivering at the burn coating his throat. He turned his empty, auburn eyes to May's sad and trembling azure ones. "So, what the fuck you want this late, Maple?"
"Why are you like this to me? This can't be because I didn't come seven years ago!"
"But it is. You proved that you didn't care enough"
"What? What are you talking about Ash? Of course I care!"
Ash lit a cigarette and cocked his eyebrow. He took a long puff of nicotine hell and exhaled it, giggling. "Sure. I can tell. So, state your business, Maple, so we can get this over with. This day was way too hard to spend more time on you"
"Stop TALKING to me like that!" May spat and paced towards him. "I am not some two dollar whore tending to the mighty Champion's needs!"... Getting no reaction from the Champion in question, his eyebrow still cocked high.
"Ah, yes. Of course you're not" Ash finally showed expression. His eyes flashed, his mouth twitched in rage and he walked up to her face, being almost on her. She smelled nice, like cinnamon... Her hugs must feel like heaven... Thoughts like that never found home in Ash's immediate conscience, sleeping in his subconscious instead. "You're not some 'two dollar whore tending to the Champion's needs', but I'll tell you what you are!" he stated in malevolent glee.
"A no dollar whore in the services of a green haired man, not tending to her BEST FRIEND'S AND MENTOR'S EMOTIONAL NEEDS!" he yelled in her face, almost literally spitting the part that hurt the most.
"How fucking dare you Ash Ketchum! That's what you think of me after all we've been through?" She responded, heated beyond herself at this point. "Big fucking deal! The almighty, ever stuck in shadows of better battlers Ash Ketchum lost a battle. HOW FUCKING SAD." she madly spat in his face, but her heat died down when she locked into Ash's eyes.
She felt a cold overcome her, but of course, it was all in her head. The cold, emotionless gaze of her love send shivers down her spine, and she took a step backwards. She knew she fucked up - big time. Ash opened his mouth, and a level, heavy voice travelled across the room, dying on the soundproof walls of the Private Fourth.
"Let me correct you. First of all, the 'Myth of Alola' Ashton Hadrian Ketchum is no longer stuck in shadows. He, is the shadow cast upon others. Second, let's talk some history."
May interjected. "I don't care about hist-"
"Shut the fuck up Maple." Hadrian cut her off, and her mouth smacked itself shut. The command had no feeling behind it, but it felt powerful.
"So. History. These will be the last words I'll share with you, so you'd best keep your ears open and mind absorbing everything. 19th of September, year 2015, around 4 after midnight I sent you a message, yes?" May pondered for a few seconds, then slowly nodded. "Do you remember it, May Maple?" He inquired, waiting for an answer.
"N-.. No. Not exactly. It was late and my mind was... distracted" She whispered.
"Of course. Too distracted to pay attention to your best friend's pleas, I bet. So, let's shake your mind up" Ash walked a bit forward, closer to the silent May. "Did you want to see Pikachu and cuddle him up when you came?" He inquired. In May's ears, it sounded completely irrelevant.
"Of course! You know how much I love him. Why is he not with you?" She asked, but got no response. Just a twitch of Ash's lips.
"Not enough, May Maple. You see, apparently you love Drew's dick more" May tried to shout in rage, but his hand grabbed her jaw, not letting her speak. He wasn't rough. In fact, his touch felt delicate and gentle. Like he was taking care of an ice sculpture.
"While you were spending your body on Drew Shu that night, your best friend was grieving. He wanted his friends with him. He sent the message to everyone, personalized to each different friend he had. He sent those messages September 19, 2015, very early morning. He spent around 8 days alone. No one showed up. He spent whole days and nights, crying alone in his room in Pallet Town, his mother trying to get him to eat and see the light of day. Then, some people came. Some others couldn't come, but wouldn't shut up through the phone to get me to speak with them. So, returning to you, May, and the first thing I said." He took a deep, steady breath and let loose the truth. May was basically still hanging from his rugged but gentle hand holding her jaw. "While you were spending your body on Drew Shu that night, your best friend was grieving his dead Pikachu, that died the day before. In a sense, you guessed right when you ignored my message. I did lose a battle. A battle with fate. And the price I paid was not a monetary one. I lost my best friend and brother, to the hands of a Primal Groudon that pierced him, opening a hole bigger that its whole body, stretching flesh around the shiny claw, making the once proud rodent a circular patch of skin, blood and-"
"STOP! PLEASE! PLEASE STOP! I BEG YOU, NO MORE!"
The destroyed May Maple screamed, crying and screaming wildly. It didn't take long for him to plant the death deep inside her psyche. She started pacing back, losing her footing and falling flat on her ass, where she broke down.
She was crying and screaming incoherently in terror and the sudden mountain of grief crashing onto her. The mental image of the ravaged Pikachu in her head electrocuted her mind, setting fire to every regret and sadness she had inside her, consuming her shaken soul in a raging fire of negative emotion.
Ash, simply stood there. Expression devoid of feeling. His face a marble depiction of Ash Ketchum, eyes lifeless and looking like glass. Breath steady, lips frozen in a thin line. He opened his lips one last time.
"The image that you now imagined, is a rough caricature of the true thing. My vision behind closed eyes had a vivid image of that for a year before I finally exorcized it. Yours will stay for tonight, at best. Don't fret and don't cry, I'll make sure you go back to LaRousse City by night tomorrow. Drew's dick will fix your issues, just like it removed my whole identity from your memory. One night, then you'll go back to giving no fucks about your supposed best friend. Since he took me out of the picture with a dick, what is a rough caricature of brutal death going to stand for?"
The Champion turned his back to her, but didn't leave just yet.
"I might have been losing a lot back then. But me getting depressed - not getting fired up and up on my feet, swinging harder than before - over a fucking loss?" He scoffed in irritation. "What an absurd notion."
He walked back to the elevator and called it. After some loud, cry-filled moments, the silver doors opened for the Champion. He turned his head to May one last time. She was looking at him, still sobbing and trembling. His visage was just as cold as moments before. With one, tiny, but noticeable difference. From his frozen face, a tear ran down from his left eye, ending on his jawline and dropping on the carpeted floor.
"Send my regards to your family. I missed them."
Ash Ketchum exited the elevator on the rooftop patio. He was hoping the night ended on a high note. Alas, he still had to go through some rough terrain.
The patio was unusually full. Many high profile individuals were gathered, and quite a few groups that spent enough cash to gain entry. His group, the group of Champions, were on the largest table, next to the railing of the roof looking over the view of HeaHea City. Steven, Lance, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha and Iris were standing around the table, engaged in merry conversation and drinking their drinks, poured by themselves in glasses from the multitude of bottles scattered on the marble table. Wallace would join too, but he got sick a day prior, so no partying in recovery for him.
Walking towards there, he noticed a group of adults, around 30-40 years old standing very near his table, on the side of the girls. They were trying to make moves on them, too drunk to realize their league was inside Distortion in front of them. One man in particular was almost harassing Diantha, trying to turn her around for a dance. The Kalosian Champion was very obviously uncomfortable, but always one to avoid scenes. So Ash was sure no one else had noticed.
Himself, however, was all for a scene. Especially right now. He was still a bit intoxicated from drinking with the men before they came to HeaHea, and the violent discussion - decorated by half a bottle of whiskey emptied by Ash during the whole ordeal - with May let his mood on a tightly pulled rope, ready to break and send him plunging in a state of irrational madness and wrath.
He walked up to his table, mind set on getting Diantha away from the over-achieving dude trying to get her. He might send the wrong message, but he couldn't care less. She was precious to him, just like all the others on the table. He was always overprotective of his close ones. His feelings about some of his close females, though, were odd.
While he feels like he doesn't need anyone - male or female - the human need of companionship and comfort from the opposite gender is rearing its ugly head deep in his subconscious. While he is and was attracted to some females in his life, he doesn't even realize it. His hyperactive sexuality and romantic side were buried so far inside his soul, he doesn't even recognize when he feels the human emotion of jealousy when someone gets close to a woman he might be attracted to. He has deluded himself into believing that he just wants to 'protect' them from other men while his subconscious knows that he wants them for him. Just like May. He believes that he hates Drew's existence just because he took his close friend away, but it wasn't that simple in reality. Just like Diantha right now. He didn't realize that he was attracted to her, that he liked her beyond normal friendship boundaries. He couldn't split close friends and best friends from potential girlfriends. He saw no difference and couldn't recognize it.
To be fair, she was actively trying to get his attention. A lot. That's what she was pondering right now, drinking her cherry vodka on the rooftop of Wela Club. Ever since she met the rash, impulsive, 17 year old Ash Ketchum in Kalos, she was impressed. He was a cute guy, but that was the smallest part of her attraction to him. His courage, his selflessness, his will to fight. Him being put against insurmountable odds, and coming out on top. Ash Ketchum was the reason she gathered the courage to fight against Lysandre and his walking natural disaster. She was young and afraid, but he was younger and fighting. And in the end, they won the Battle of The Sun Dial. She was observing Ash Ketchum during that ordeal, and she figured something out. He was holding back during all of the Lumiose Conference. Not in the literal sense, but she could feel something more. Something bigger from him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. After the battle he left Kalos before she could get to know him more. She never forgot him, and was always wandering what the Hero of Kalos was up to this time.
Next year, the Alola Region joined the United Regions, and they were going to hold their first conference in April. After that, their crowned Champion would join their table. That meeting however, came a whole year later, in January of 2016. They were waiting for the Alola Champion, and Ash Ketchum was the one who walked inside the meeting room of Ever Grande Fortress. She wasn't surprised that Cynthia, Steven, Lance and Charles Goodshow knew him personally, considering his personality. What did surprise her was the man's state when he walked in. The now 18 year old adult Ash Ketchum was nothing like he was before. He was walking slowly and looked broken, like a burned marionette with its strings cut. He was eerily silent and never took his gaze off the floor. He sat down in the empty chair next to Diantha, not sparing a glance to anyone in the room, mumbling his name and title in a pathetic greeting. For the first time in her years as a champion, Diantha went through a silent meeting. Ash would only respond to direct questions, but even then he would give incredibly short and quiet answers. The moment the meeting ended, he left first and disappeared.
The Champions truthfully had a lot of time on their hands. It was a peace period, all matters within regions were handled by the Elites, and evil organizations that terrorized regions and the Champions' sanity were basically extinct nowadays, and with current technology desk work could be completed from anywhere in the world - except Orre. So, they attempted to help Ash.
Steven and Lance would always try to hang with him and sometimes drag him with them for drinks and parties. Maybe he would open up with a couple of drinks. Ash would humor them, but unfortunately for the duo, he could drink more than a couple gallons of drinks and he still didn't open up. Intoxicated or not, he was equally silent.
Cynthia was acting like a doting big sister, taking him shopping and buying several megatons of ice cream for him to eat. She managed to alter his look to a black/ash-grey one, the one he sported nowadays. Alas, that was the only thing she could manage with him.
The other champions didn't know the Champion of Alola enough to intervene.
As for herself, she was trying to just keep him company and not pressure him, hoping he would open up on his own. She would take him for long walks, talking about random things like the weather and financial news. Needless to say, little success. He would humor her however, trying to participate in some subjects. Sometime during October of 2016, she invited him to Lumiose, and he complied. She went with him for walks again, hung around in a park, but nothing would change. She wanted to get to know him! Thus, she thought about what she already knew about him. Then she found the golden ticket. She challenged him to a battle.
Ash complied. A simple two versus two would take place between them. Of course, Diantha would hold herself as back as possible. That's what she wanted. She just wanted a fun battle to help him open up. Besides, he was just a rookie Champion. He lacked the experien-
Ash didn't even give her a chance to hold back. Before she could realize that Ash had a rare Galarian Sirfetch'd, she lost. Her Aurorus and Tyrantrum were dispatched in a fashion that left Diantha wide-eyed. His battle style had evolved more three times over in the last two years. It was explosive, unorthodox, and held nothing back. And above all, his connection to his Pokemon was incredible - the amount of trust Sirfetch'd put on his trainer was unheard of. To her defense, she was unprepared, not willing to take the battle seriously and managed to hold back a bit. But she just knew one thing for a fact. She might have stretched the battle, given him a hard time, but she would lose.
Despite the unforeseen outcome of the battle, however, her idea worked. Ash was finally talking. Diantha hopped on the chance and she finally got a peek into the Ash everyone was trying to see. That night, they walked and talked until the sun's rays lit up Lumiose to signal the start of a new day. She learned about his past achievements -he beat Pyramid Head Brandon three years in training?! - his many loving Pokemon, his travels, his encounters with Legendary Pokemon and his life in Pallet town.
Over the next months, he opened a bit more every time they hung out together. He also started being a bit more open with the rest of the Champions and Alder started hanging with him too. Diantha learned about his past in more detail. Events like New Island, Shamouti and Altomare. She learned of his encounters with evil organizations. She learned of his possessions by the Shadow of Hoopa and the King of Pokelantis - "It exists?!" Diantha spat her drink - his near death experiences, and his friends. And finally, she heard of the Team Rocket Incident. This was the only event that he covered as loosely as possible. But she heard about Pikachu's death and his godfather.
Diantha convinced him to share this death with the Champions. They needed to know why he was like he was. And after a whole lot of pressure, he complied. And thus, his upwards climb started. By this day, Ash Ketchum had become more way more lively, very engaged in their Champion companionship and he became a fun person to hang around with. His dynamic with Steven and Lance - and Alder to some extent - had become unmatched. His big sis-young bro chemistry with Cynthia was a true joy to behond. And with her... Well. She was his friend, but she wanted more.
Diantha wasn't sure if she wanted just a friendship with him. She just adored every part of him. The goofy Ash, the serious Ash, the battler Ash - and what a battler, at that - the caring Ash, the anxious Ash.
She loved him. Was a friendship going to sate her love?
Speaking of Ash, he arrived to their table, shoving the offending man away from Diantha in the process. He wrapped his arms around Diantha's waist and rested his head on her shoulder, breaking her out of her stupor and causing a smile to form on her pink lips. She knew who those rough-skinned but gentle hands belonged to. Before she could greet him, however, she felt his body getting shoved on her, knocking them both on the table.
Lance, Steven and Alder suddenly stared at the offender, alcohol influence absent from their faces. Cynthia, on the other hand, took a defensive stance covering Iris, a shining metal baton cradled in her hand that came out of nowhere.
Diantha for her part, pulled herself up and noticed that a couple of drinks emptied their contents on her dress. A beautiful, pearl white dress starting from her thorax ending down to her thighs, a couple of inches under her bottom, the outfit complete with a pair of matching white high-heels and her Mega Necklace adorning her slender neck. She got very sad. The outfit she wore just for Ash's eyes was ruined. Her eyes welled up in childish sadness. She looked up, and saw Ash's worried eyes peering at her.
"Are you ok Diantha?" he asked worriedly, his hands moving her hair aside to check for any injuries. His eyes at the moment were colored with worry, and a certain degree of warmth. Of course, the warmth of his eyes was just the comparison between the bottom cavern of the Seafoam Islands and Route 217 of Sinnoh. Of course, Route 217 was considered warm in that comparison. Alas, Diantha knew that his eyes would instantly become freezing cold and colored in the red of wrath with her answer.
"I'm alright Ash, no harm done."
Ash closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before flashing a crooked, frightening grin. "It seems that I cannot enjoy a fucking night in fucking peace" he spat loudly and smashed his hand on the marble table. Lance tried to jump in to the incoming fight, but Ash stopped him with a wave. "No, brother. This is my business" Ash quietly said and turned to the balding from anxiety man. He rubbed the spot on the rear of his head where he was hit and looked at the man, who had no idea who he was dealing with, if his words where anything to go by.
"You brought this on yourself kiddo! You saw me moving on that cute little slut, why the-" Before he could finish his words, the wind forcibly left his mouth straight out of his lungs by a kick with the force of thunder landing on his right rib cage. The last thing he saw before he folded in pain was Ash Ketchum's madly furious visage looking straight at his crooked - and drunk - soul.
Ash grabbed him by the scruff and punched him in his already damaged ribs without a single hint of mercy. "Say that again." Another punch. "Say that again." Another punch. "Say that again mother fucker, who do you think you're calling a slut? Call her a slut again motherfucker, I dare you." This time his fist connected to his mouth, knocking him on the floor dazed, but before he could advance a psychic hold forcibly pulled him back.
He saw a familiar Gardevoir's eyes lit with psychic energy and a worried Diantha locked him in a tight hug.
"Please don't hit him more, he isn't worth it. He's just drunk. You got your message across, you don't need this violence, please Ashy" she begged, stroking his back in an attempt to calm him down. Surprisingly, it was working.
Lance, Steven and Alder all looked at the squirming man fairly confused. He did hit Ash, but Ash lost his marbles on him. Cynthia, on the other hand, was busy keeping the man's group at bay, cradling her metal baton with clear intent to give purple lines to defiant bodies. Iris was looking at Ash in clear bewilderment, shock-stunned to silence by the show of violence. Ash Ketchum would never assault anyone like that. And yet, none of them witnessed everything yet, since the man was a sucker for pain. He stood up, wiped his lips and spat his blood on the Champion of Kalos.
"Filthy gold-digger."
Any one of them could rush to the man to shut him up before he takes it too far, but it was already too late.
Ash lost his marbles. Flexing his Aura and willpower he broke Gardevoir's psychic hold and rushed to the man, knocking down the Diantha hugging him in the process, a fact he was too far gone to even notice. Before he reached the man however, two Guard Machoke grabbed him by his arms, trying to push him back. In a show of inhuman strength fueled by rage, Aura and pure determination to silence the man, Ash Ketchum pushed back the Machoke for a bit. That notion was cut short however when the Machoke used their actual strength instead of their toned-down fit-for-humans strength.
"Gold-digger? I'll dig you in gold instead." Ash spat, shaking the guards off while 2 more guards escorted the injured man and his group. With his clear conscience returning to him, he figured out that he fucked up and whirled around to see Diantha. He saw her standing up straight, her clothes completely clean of any liquids and dirt - courtesy of Gardevoir's Psychic removing them.
She was staring at him blankly. She wasn't afraid of him at all. She wasn't injured or hurt or offended. She was, however, worried about him.
He exhibited a full blown rage trip. He blacked out, mind filled with the single thought of punishing the individual that hurt her and disrespected her. He didn't care about his surroundings or other people around him. He let his (will)power cut loose, set on physical harm or worse. It was a darkness without a bottom. An infinite barrel. Once, he was a vessel lifeless, filled with sorrow and pain. Slowly, the negative feelings filling his soul left. But something needed to take over them. Sadly, none of his friends managed to fill it with positive ones. From lifeless, he became lively, but not in a pure sense. He was good company, yes. Funny, yes. Wise at times, yes. But the sorrow and pain that are still in the process of leaving him pass the baton to wrath and cold determination. The chance to replace sorrow and pain with closure and happiness and enthusiasm and love was gone. The delusion of 'fault' inside him caused his sorrow. Feeling he was responsible for Pikachu's death made him sorrowful, but now it was replaced with wrath aimed to himself for letting Pikachu die, unfortunately unleashing that same wrath at people moving wrong in front of him. Pain caused by loss turned to cold, emotionless determination to never feel that pain again. These feelings were decorated with the false notion of power, thinking that power will grant his desires to protect those he cared about. Power was not something light. He saw it during the Rainbow Rocket Incident. The power held by the evil hands of Maxie Matsubusa. It was cold and lifeless and that was what he was gunning for and that was why he was so cold during battles. No mercy means no chances for the enemy to clap back. No feelings meant no holding back, denying the restriction of 'ethical use of power'. He would be cold, just like Maxie, but with virtuous and just hands holding that power.
It was a dangerous, dark slope. And Ash Ketchum was sliding it down without brakes.
Contrary to the cold, powerful and dangerous truth, however, Ash Ketchum was currently acting like a child that saw his mother crash into a stop sign on the street. He was running circles around her, checking every nook and cranny on her body - Oh how she WISHED he would check every nook and cranny on her body -for potential injuries. Gardevoir was silently giggling and 'spoke' to Diantha.
"Are there any issues with moisture, mistress?" The feminine telepathic voice of her Gardevoir quipped, provoking a cherry-red Diantha to recall her.
"Please please please tell me you're okay, I didn't hurt you did I? Shit-shit-shit-" Ash was mumbling while spinning around, provoking an amused chuckle from his female colleague.
Unbeknownst to them, Cynthia was internally cooing with bliss watching their interaction.
"Ash, please, I am fine, nothing bad happened! My clothes are even clean!" Diantha chimed, stopping him in front of her. "Relax. We are here to celebrate, remember?"
Ash eyed her one more time with sad eyes. He sighed and closed the auburn globes of pain. In a moment of - unbecoming for him - impulse, he grabbed her by her scruff, pulled her face closer and planted a soft, caring kiss on her forehead - Cynthia almost screeched in rapidly growing bliss - causing the poor Kalosian to melt. Sadly, however, Ash immediately vanished behind the male trio on the table.
"How the fuck does every female melt by you just existing" Lance sighed and rubbed his colleague's back.
"Ash, I get why you did everything. But please, don't resort to violence. Next time I'll contain you. Alright?" An oddly serious Steven Stone stated, getting a nod from Ash. No promises, of course.
"Enough with the sadness and seriousness!" Alder said in a loud voice, raising his glass.
"Tonight we celebrate the rise of the Myth of Alola!"
September 19, 2022, 3:40am
HeaHea Pokemon Center, HeaHea City, Alola Region
The moment Ash Ketchum left the Private Fourth, May Maple really broke down. She was crying uncontrollably, losing full control of her body. She just laid on the carpeted floor sobbing and trying to make heads or tails of her thoughts. She had no idea how long she was there laying there, deserted and ignored. In reality, it was three hours.
When she finally regained control of her body and stood up, she did the only logical thing she could. She ran. She left the club in a rush and broke into a sprint to the Pokemon Center. She stopped for nothing and no one.
Finally, she arrived at her destination, bursting through the door of her room and locking it behind her. She entered the personal bathroom and looked herself in the mirror. In reality she wanted to keep running. It was cathartic, in a sense. A literal application of running away from her thoughts. But since the brain inside her head was running along with the body, she could never outrun her thoughts. Therefore, she broke down again.
The reserve of tears in her eyes had been dried out long ago. Sobs were exhausted along with the tears, leaving the broken May Maple standing in front of the mirror, motionless and silent, looking at the visage she hated at the moment. Contrary to her body, her mind was all but silent. The loud thoughts came back with a vengeance, but at least they made sense this time around.
She was filled with grief, pain and most importantly - regrets. Too many too count, to many to start thinking about. But she did try to think of them. Where to start?
Regrets for not trying to get even closer to Ash. Regrets for not ever telling him her feelings. Regrets for not letting Ash actively engage to her contests like Dawn did. Regrets for feeling the fear of rejection. Regrets for letting those fears rule over her, causing her to travel alone to Johto instead of with him to Sinnoh. Regrets for not contacting him more. Regrets for letting Drew tag along with her. Regrets for letting Drew in her life. Regrets for giving in to his charms. Regrets for the attempt to get over Ash that caused her to give in to Drew. Regrets for giving her body to him. Regrets for letting Drew convince her that the battle style she got from Ash was unfit for her and her contests, thus convincing her discard it. Regrets for moving to LaRousse with him. Regrets for not being there for Ash's biggest moments. Regrets for letting Drew control her life. Regrets for allowing Drew to delete Ash's contacts and photographs of them to 'get over her past'. Regrets for not realizing that Drew only wanted her for her image, just to boost his own. Regrets for letting Drew confine her to LaRousse. Regrets for getting railed the night she got that message. Regrets for not paying enough attention when she read it. Regrets for losing herself to the bliss of an impending orgasm she thought was coming, closing the message and ignoring it. Regrets for thinking that Ash would be stupid enough to be that heart-broken because he just lost a big match. Regrets for Drew shattering and distorting the image of Ash's character in her head - he would NEVER be broken from a loss, he would always fire-back even harder and even stronger! Regrets for not going to him when she should have. Regrets for allowing Drew deny her the chance to travel. Regrets for not mutilating the green-headed cunt when he used his Flygon to burn her half of the Terracotta Ribbon to help her 'look to the future and not the past'. Regrets for staying that long with him. Regrets for thinking he was enough to make her get over her affection for Ash. Regrets for even trying to get over the one she actually wanted and loved. Regrets for causing him so much pain. Regrets for not trying hard enough to find him. Regrets for not searching the world for him. Regrets for getting complacent with sending messages to a number that no longer existed. Regrets for hoping he'd contact her again.
Regrets for not being there to help him when he needed it. Regrets for not being the one to save him every time. Regrets for having him save her all the time. Regrets for not thanking him enough. Regrets for forgetting how much he had done for her. Regrets for not giving herself to him, no questions asked. Regrets- Regrets- Regrets- Regrets- FUCK!
Her balled fist smashed into the mirror decorating the bathroom of the Pokemon Center room. It shattered fully, in a mixture of big and small shards that cut into her arm. But her drawn blood did not matter. The payment for damages did not matter. Only the fact that she broke the man she loved mattered. She would make things right. She would fix this. Time did not matter. Space did not matter. She would try, and try, and try until she fixed this. She would succeed or grow old and decayed trying. She would not fade into Distortion without erasing all her regrets and fixing all wrongs.
She washed the blood off her arm and clumsily wrapped some sort of bandage around it before taking off her clothes. She was too tired to do anything else and laid on the bed in her underwear. Besides, Alolan climate was a tad bit too hot for sleepwear. With finalized determination and her grief for company, she closed her eyes. She was hopeful. She could fix this. Ash would not be that broken and bitter if she didn't matter.
Fortunately for her, she was correct. Ash did care for her, even still. She held an important role in his life. She was his first student, the first person he ever mentored. She was also the first person that Ash had advanced feelings for. That importance combined with the disgusting events of September 18th of 2015 were the cause of his pain and bitterness. He held unholy amounts of rage at feeling discarded at his most vulnerable. May just hoped he got his rage off his chest during their earlier interaction.
Unfortunately for her, the web weaver called fate was not that kind.
September 19, 2022, 5:30am
Champion's Quarters of Manalo Mansion
Manalo City, Alola Region
The festivities went on smoothly. For the first time, Ash enjoyed his time and the party, cracking jokes, laughing, dancing and smiling. The reason that happened was the absence of thought. Always, he was drinking and thinking about his problems. This time, the problems were so many that he couldn't bother having them in his mind. Thus, he sent everything down the drain and just lived the moment for what it was. Nothing but a fleeting moment.
Around 5 am, he couldn't keep going. He was beyond wasted, no longer speaking in a normal manner and had difficulty walking. Thus, Steven Stone forced him to leave. While Ash was trying to walk towards the elevator, the silver haired Champion asked for someone to accompany him to his Mansion, and Diantha volunteered before anyone had even thought of doing it. Apart from the desire to be close to him, she wanted to speak with him. The man spent the whole night avoiding her to 'not hurt her again'. It was a load of bullshit, and she would give him a piece of her mind.
And that was why the door to his master bedroom was opened by the slender hands of the Kalosian Champion instead of the drunken stride of Ash smashing into it.
Ash wobbled in, passing Diantha on his way, eyeing her warily. "Whyy you's heree" he mumbled incoherently, getting an irritated grunt from his companion.
"Because I already told you, you did nothing wrong! It was just, an accident!"
He mumbled something inaudible and shuffled towards his bed, turning his back to her and taking off his shirt.
Diantha's eyes widened to their full extent with mouth agape to match. Her shock was not aimed toward his very well toned body - well, that too - instead being aimed at his scars. Excluding the multiple of tiny cut and burn scars on his body, there was a massive line of scar tissue from his right shoulder blade down to his left half of his lower back. It looked more like burned skin instead of a laceration - too wide to be a laceration. Right in the middle of it - dead center on his back, in fact - was a circular scar that was a bit caved in, like something blasted through him. He then turned around and noticed her staring intently at his body. Diantha saw more cuts and burns which he wore like ribbons of past trials, but what shocked her a bit was a circular shaped scar on the middle of his diaphragm, same size as the one on his back. Also at the exact same spot mirroring the one on his back. Was he pierced through?!
Well the truth was more simple yet more complicated. Those two scars bore the names Mew and Mewtwo. Gifted to him when he walked in the middle of their beams, cutting the path of the collision with his body. He would be pierced, probably blown to pieces too from the impacting beams if he wasn't turned to stone before that happened. Didn't save him from death anyway.
"Som-in wron, Dianne?" he mumbled, trying to raise his eye-brow.
"Dianne?" The champion retorted, irritation brewing. He forgot her name?
"I like Dianne. Dianne pretty name. Dian-ta too har for me" He said and shrugged, slumping on his bed face-up. His bed did not like the gesture, if the wooden whine was anything to go by. Shit, he forgot Lance broke his fucking bed.
In typical mood-swing fashion, Diantha madly blushed. He used a diminutive for her. And no one ever called her Dianne before. She liked it. A lot, if her giddiness was any indication.
With a sigh, she moved to his bed and sat beside his sprawled form. She took a good look at his face. He was a bit sad and mostly irritated that he had no power to keep her away. Stupid man.
"Ashy?" she whispered
"Ye?"
"You did nothing wrong. It was just a mistake. An honest mistake, a small accident." She said kindly. Ash tried to sit up and retort, but her hand forced him back down on the bed. "I talk, you listen." She asserted herself with authority unmatched, causing Ash to flinch and let himself lay in the bed. He felt Diantha's soft hand cupping his cheek. "You are not perfect Ash. You will never be perfect. Nobody is perfect. No one can become perfect. Not in the way you think of perfection." She took a deep breath, locked her blue eyes to his auburn ones and continued. "Perfection in the way you think does not exist. True perfection is subjective. It's not something you can achieve, not something you can touch. Every human being is flawed. We all are, you are, I am, Cynthia is, Steven is. But perfection lies within those flaws. Perfection is the totality of man, the total of his negative and positive traits. The mix of flaws and strengths. You see Ash, every human on this earth is perfect to some people. And every human has people they consider perfect. For some people, their parent is perfect. For some people, their neighbor is perfect. For some people, I am perfect. To me Ash..." She smiled widely at him and pierced his soul with her beautiful blue eyes. "You are perfect. You were perfect. You will be perfect. Other people must see you as perfect too. You don't need to burn yourself in search of perfection. You'll just lose yourself in the process. Do you understand me, Ash?" she inquired, and he hesitantly nodded.
His eyes were warm, and almost teary looking at her. Out of every single word spoken to him in the last seven years, nothing touched his soul like those. Whether that happened because he was drunk or not, no one would ever know.
The duo sat in comfortable silence. Diantha was either staring at the wall or staring at the handsome champion next to her, pondering something that was burning her at the moment. She had already scanned his naked torso, drinking in the sight of the battle worn, work-toned body the Myth of Alola had. Thank Arceus he couldn't see her biting her lips.
Ash for his part had his eyes closed, mind too mangled to think anything coherently.
Almost ten minutes had passed, and Diantha moved her hand from the cheek she was stroking slowly down to his chest, resting it above his heart. His breathing had become stable, slowly drifting into unconsciousness. Her breathing in contrast was rushed, anxious and she was burning all over. She couldn't hesitate any longer. She had no point doing it when he was sleeping. She squashed the demons of hesitance and moved. Using her hand to balance her body, she bent her head above his. She got closer, and closer.. She could feel his breath escaping his lips, touching hers. It was too late to stop. And she no longer wanted to.
Her soft, pink lips touched his, closing them in a soft and tender kiss. Ash's mangled thoughts froze and vanished. Nothing existed anymore, just a weird, wet and soft sensation on his lips combined with the smell of fresh cherries. His lips moved in response, welcoming the strange but familiar feeling. Before he could figure it out, however, both sensations had vanished.
Diantha was already out of his room, pacing down the hallway towards the exit. Her face had a strawberry-red hue, and she was feeling very hot and very bothered. She was giddy and shivering. She done it. She actually kissed him. And it felt wonderful. What if he responded... What if he actually responded? How good would that feel? What if he kept her in his room and responded fully and devoured her...
Fuck the party. She needed to go to her hotel and take care of herself before she blew up. She just hoped that he wouldn't just forget it, or that she wasn't too late and he had fell asleep. But his lips did react a tiny bit, didn't they?
Unbeknownst to her, Ash didn't want the feeling to stop. He liked it, he wanted more of it. Maybe he'll get more of it? Who knows?
One thing he did know, however, was that he would get a relaxing, beautiful rest.
September 19, 2022, 10:30am
HeaHea Pokemon Center, HeaHea City, Alola Region
At this time of day the streets were beyond dead. The celebrations actually ended a little less than two hours ago. So, Nurse Joy was quite surprised when a young woman with dark blue hair shuffled weakly in the Pokemon Center. The girl was a living, breathing, walking mess. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were a mixture of damp and dry, with stains of sea water and sand all over them. Her lifeless midnight blue eyes had really dark bags under them, which begged the question. When was the last time the girl rested?!
"Are you... okay?" Nurse Joy asked, ready to jump in action should the girl collapse.
All she got was a tortured and troubled look from Dawn's indigo eyes.
Dawn actually didn't rest. Not since she saw 'Champion Ashton Hadrian Ketchum' on TV - A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN 20 HOURS AGO. She didn't eat nor sleep since that point. She was running on at least 7 cups of coffee, fumes, and pure determination to slap the motherfucker that hid from her. She didn't even reach Alola normally.
After she hopped on Togekiss, she flew from Twinleaf Town of Sinnoh straight to Saffron City of Kanto, making extremely fast time too thanks to Togekiss' continuous use of Extreme Speed. When they landed, Dawn want to fly to Vermilion as well, but Togekiss actually blasted her with an Aura Sphere - promising worse if she attempted more flying. Thus, she was stuck to hitch-hiking to Vermillion.
She managed to go through with hitch-hiking and she was lucky enough to find a ship for Alola. The unfortunate part was, it was a 13-hour trip. And she was livid. She had an argument with the clerk of the ticket booth - "Take an airplane to Alola if you're mad about our services, lady" "Air travel to Alola has shut down due to massive inflation of tourism in a day, you uninformed cunt!" - and she was swiftly escorted out by guard Machoke.
During the ship ride, she was beyond jumpy. She attempted to use Empoleon to swim to Alola three times, two of them she got momentarily lost before returning on board, and one time her irritated Empoleon dragged her right back on board and refused to leave its Pokeball after that.
Anyone would believe that Dawn would finally rest. She had nothing to do. She was in a boat. In the middle of the Ocean.
Yeah, no.
She was pacing back and forth, checking her phone for news, she was talking to Empoleon - while Empoleon was sleeping on the wooded tiles of the deck - Lopunny was jumping around unable to contain excitement in seeing Pikachu (Ouch, by the way) and Dawn couldn't sleep even when she tried.
The thirteen hours passed agonizingly slow. By the point they reached Seafolk Village she was almost like zombie, holding a cup of hot coffee and a plastic bag full of empty cups of said coffee. But alas, she was at the last stretch. Island-to-island travel was an easy and fast affair, so she could find him. She just had to ask the Nurse Joy where the champion was. Easy enough, right? Right?
Nurse Joy had no idea where the Champion was. Dawn was getting irritated. She was filthy from all the awkward travelling and the lack of sleep was catching up fast.
"You should try Melemele Island, it's known that the Champion goes there a lot" was the only tip Dawn had from a random lady inside the center that heard her searching for him. Therefore, she got at the beach and bought a Wailord ride to Melemele Island. And time passed again with her doing nothing but gazing at the horizon of the sea for the millionth time.
Finally, the Wailord dropped her off at the beach and left. Now she had to trek to Hau'oli City, go to the Pokemon Center, ask the Nu-
Her train of thought was forcefully destroyed by a mouthful of sand, the result of getting knocked down face-first by an orange canine that was running without looking, chasing a ball.
"Pft- Pft- Motherfuck- Pft- Fuck fuck fuck fucking sand-" She seethed, trying to remove all of the sand from her mouth. How did she eat that much? Also, how did the sand go everywhere? She could feel it everywhere - and fuck was it uncomfortable.
"Why are you using such words lady? I've only heard big bro using that many at once before" an unknown voice of a child inquired.
Dawn whirled around a saw a tan little brunette boy looking at her curiously. Before she could speak to it, however, a third voice chimed in from behind the boy, belonging to an older woman, also tanned with white hair.
"Come on Lei, don't bother people without reason" She mock-scolded him with a smile. She then turned and looked at Dawn with curiosity. "You are obviously not from here, way too pale for that. What are you looking for in Melemele coming from the beach?" She inquired, no holds barred against an unfamiliar face near their house.
"A Wailord just left me- pft- here" She said, still trying to remove the sand from her mouth. "I'm looking for Champion Ha- Ash Ketchum. I'm looking for Ash Ketchum" she said at last. Surprisingly, the little kid was the one to answer.
"Why are you looking for Big Brother Ash?" he asked curiously, getting a bewildered stare from the blunette. The orange canine next to him eyed Dawn warily.
"Come now Lei. How about you go inside?" The mother said, but the boy would not budge just yet.
"When will he come for dinner? It's been a month already!" He pouted and crossed his arms.
"I'll call him and scold him for you, okay? Now, go inside" She commanded, this time sternly. It was enough to satisfy the kid who beamed with glee and ran towards the home next to the beach.
Dawn however was flooded with questions. Not being the one to shy away, she asked the first. "Why is your son calling Ash his big brother? He has no brothers, and you are surely not Delia."
The white haired woman sighed, and turned towards Dawn. "Lei is Ash's godson. And also treats him as big brother. You see, when Ash moved in Alola eight years ago, he was living with Kukui, my husband, before I even met him. They have this cute father-son dynamic going on..." The woman rambled... And kept rambling. "Nowadays, he is mostly in the Mansion, passed out drunk... The more he breaks the worse he gets I tell you..." She palmed her face and shook her head, obviously in sadness and disappointment. But finally, something clicked that she was talking too much in front of a stranger. "Wait. First of all, who are you?" She inquired.
Dawn however, was livid. Multiple things happened in quick succession. Confusion at Ash's role of godfather to the little boy, happiness at finally having a lead on Ash, shock and worry at Ash being an alcoholic, it seemed, and then rage when she heard the term 'the more he breaks'
"My name is Dawn Berlitz" She snapped. "But questions over. Why is Ash breaking? I swear, if you people hurt him I'll fucking beat- AH" She got forcefully cut off by the orange canine that lunged in front of her, fangs bared and a red sheen on its green eyes.
By now, however, Professor Burnet was stone cold. "Lycanroc, stand down. You know you can't defend your trainer while he isn't even here. I will take care of this." The good professor walked up to Dawn and looked down on her. Burnet was tall enough for that. "I suggest you leave. You are not welcome in Melemele. In Alola, I'd say, but I have no word on a scale like that. Now, walk back where you came from."
Dawn just got even more furious. "You will not kick me out of the region, woman. You will give me my answers!" She snapped, ready for a fist fight should the need arise. But the woman in front of her chuckled.
"Let me spell it out for you. The Champion gave specific orders to his close circle. 'May Maple, Serena Yvonne-Gabena and Dawn Berlitz are to be avoided at all costs. If you cannot avoid them, either give them this order or tell them that Ash Ketchum does not exist.' Now, I won't wait for you to leave, so I'll just take you away. Alakazam, somewhere inside HeaHea"
Dawn tried to walk up, but before she could react she crashed into a wall, falling flat on her ass on top of soft grass. But this time, she didn't get up.
The world was spinning, and not because of dizziness. Her world was literally sent spinning by the woman. Ash had literally blocked her out of his life. And not only her. She didn't know what the other girls had done, but she didn't do anything to him! He just disappeared seven years ago! In fact, the only thing in common she had with the other two was exactly that, he disappeared to them exactly seven years ago.
And that thought was when her gears started spinning again at their usual, extremely fast paces. Ash deleted contacts sometime between September 19th 2015 when he sent his plea for company and October 23rd 2015, the day she stepped foot in Twinleaf after she returned to Sinnoh from Almia, where she went after leaving Fiore for Rowan's errands - speaking off, why he didn't send the annoying fuck Lucas and sent her instead was something she would never understand. Yes, the intel was closely tied to Fiore's survival but why not Lucas? - So, something must have happened to him during that period, or when he sent the text. Was that the whole reason? She couldn't just fly to Kanto in a moment's notice, no matter how close Fiore was to Kanto. Besides, he called EVERYONE. If that truly was the reason, then she needed to know why. May and Serena both didn't go, May because she had locked herself in a bad relationship for Arceus knows why and Serena was almost dead from over-exhaustion for completing a contract that was not worth her time and work, not by a longshot - she should have just dropped it and just battle trainers a couple times and make it back up.
She also knew that May and Serena attempted to text him quite a bit later than her, May February of 2016 and Serena December of 2015, so they wouldn't be the reasons for identity removal. So the time table of the moment all went south was shorted to a month.
As for Ash's other friends, they had something in common. Most have moved to Alola. The married couple of Misty and Brock - Brock Harrison M.D. - moved to Alola where Brock owned his own hospital, built one year later after Manalo finished construction in 2020. Clermont and Bonnie made Ferrand Labs here in HeaHea, and Cilan had a house here, somewhere around Manalo. Iris was the only one not living in Alola, but up until 2 weeks ago was beating the Championship in Unova. Max was fitting nowhere in the equation, probably because he's May's brother. Out of all of them, she only had contact with Iris and Brock. Brock was way too busy to speak often, but every time she asked about Ash he was replying 'No idea' with sadness flooding his voice. Which was always acceptable, but was now sketchy with Ash being the Champion and living here for eight years. Therefore, they must have all kept contact with Ash. She wouldn't ever blame Brock hiding it, he would never break a promise to his little brother in all but blood.
If her theory was true, all of them visited Ash or contacted him prior to his removal from the grid. And now a new memory hit her head. The only thing she knew of someone visiting him was Iris, who just said that one thing, once.
"Ash was incredibly depressed about something that happened in Alola, it's his thing to speak about, but nowadays he's nowhere to be found."
So Iris did know what happened, but she was not willing to share his secrets. Respectable. So Ash really was in deep shit and they never respected it properly. A storm of sadness hit her, but she was too busy cracking a mystery.
As for the Ash of today, she knew few things. He was extremely hot, he was cold as cold a man can be, apparently cunning and calculating, crazy strong and always seen alone. He was never with Pikachu. Pikachu would never enter his Pokeball and Ash would never look that much dead inside with Pikachu perched on his shoulder - with Pikachu, Ash would probably never know what being cold meant. Which begged the question. Where has Pikachu gone off to?
Wait. That's it! Pikachu was gone. She cracked the case. But the moment she did, tears started flowing down her eyes, the same phrase repeating in her mind. Pikachu was gone.
Indeed, Dawn's extreme intelligence solved the case she could never solve in seven years because she didn't know enough. Now everything was connected with just two facts, May Serena and herself were locked out of his life and he was the Champion of Alola. The image of the complete puzzle was visible and decipherable despite the many missing pieces, but the work was done.
In reality, Dawn was extremely smart. She was a klutz, yes. Impulsive, also yes. Quirky, yes. But she was never stupid. She was very often acting stupid when the situation would turn favorable if she did. She was not manipulative, but she was always trying to get the best out of a situation. She was pretty cunning, albeit benevolently.
The rouses and masks however fell in front of the man named Ash Ketchum. He broke her down to her atoms with only a couple of looks and some focused words. She was never able to hide neither her intelligence nor her emotional side nor her angry side nor her cute side. No side was hidden to him. He cracked her open like Exeggute under Groudon's foot. To him, she was an open book. To him, she was everything she ever represented in her life. Ash knew Dawn as Dawn, wholly and perfectly, every hidden part of her and every part visible. And one time, he told her - "You're adorable, Dawn. I adore everything about you." - and she was lost. That was it. This man was the only man that ever knew everything about her, perfections and imperfections alike. And he accepted everything wholly. She wanted to be with that man. She was his. And she wouldn't want it any other way. With him, she wouldn't be afraid to be herself. She wouldn't be afraid to express herself, like her mother did before she divorced her dad. And besides, Ash was honestly the only man she ever viewed as perfect. Caring, very smart, handsome, brave, selfless, kind of clumsy some times which was cute, insightful, and righteous. She loved him. His perfections and imperfections all at once. These last seven years, nothing ever changed. She never viewed anyone as even barely close to Ash's image. She was still his number one supporter. She would once again perform her ridiculous cheerleader shtick for him, to see him crack a smile at her antics during battle. She would once again be his personal annoyance to the point of them bickering and fighting, ending with him pinning her against a wall-. She would be his. And she would make sure of it.
She never tried before. She never talked to him about her feelings, waiting for him to come and boldly claim her as his. She gave many signals, but she forgot one very important thing. She may have loved his imperfections, but she forgot one very annoying problem of his. He was dense as all Distorted fuck.
She would come clean. She would tell him the truth and stick by his side no matter what.
Despite those positive thoughts, she was grieving and crying in front of a wall in fuck-knows-where. Pikachu was gone and Ash was suffering. He was suffering when he texted her. Screw Rowan and his bullshit errand. She should have flown by flapping her arms straight to Kanto when he wanted it. She might not have had a bad reason to not be there, and he might have blocked everyone rather rashly and harshly, but she should still be there. Ash was ruined, he became a cold alcoholic in her absence. She would never accept that. She would beg him for forgiveness at his feet if she needed to - oddly enough, she enjoyed that idea. She would also fuck him up for locking her out before discussing with her at least once, but she would ask for forgiveness nonetheless. She would fix everything. She would be at his side and stay there, as she wanted to all along. She would no longer wait for him to move to her. She would move to him.
She would get her long overdue closure.
"I'm just fine, thank you" Dawn responded. She tried to sound cheery, but she sounded like a freshly fed zombie.
"I- I- I see..." Nurse Joy lamely responded, a bit terrified by the girl.
"A room. Dawn Berlitz. Twinleaf. Sinnoh. 445093. I need to bathe. Sand is everywhere. Fast." The girl hissed to the nurse, which very quickly handed her the keys and the girl stormed off.
Dawn ascended the stairs and with a head hung down, looking at the carpeted hallway she advanced. Before she could reach her room, however, she felt a nasty pain on her head and fell backwards. She bumped heads with someone, and she has had enough.
"Ahhhh! FUCK! You're fucking dead." She snapped while trying to stand up, seeing the female doing the same. "I swear to Giratina that I'll send you as a gift strai-" And then she froze when she saw the girl that she crashed into.
"MAY?!"
"DAWN?!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"I ASKED YOU FIRST!"
"I ASKED YOU FIRST!"
"Ahhhhh FUCK THIS." Dawn finally screamed. "Let's just GO IN AN ARCEUS FORSAKEN ROOM I NEED A SHOWER"
"Wow, really? I couldn't tell by you looking like you swam your way here and smelling like sea-water and sweat" May quipped.
"May, honestly, my patience is wearing way too thin, let's just go in your room" she said with a wave and paced before stopping. "Which one is your room?" she asked incredulously, getting a resigned sigh out of May, who opened the door next to her.
Dawn almost jumped in the room and locked herself in the bathroom - "The fuck happened to the mirror?" she whispered - got naked and jumped in the shower. "MAY COFFEE PLEASE" she yelled.
May sighed, again. It seems things were getting an interesting turn. And least she had one of her best friends with her...
"HOW DID THE SAND GET THERE?!"
"I fucking knew it." Dawn said sadly, downing a sip of her coffee. Her 8th? 9th? 10th coffee? This time, though, she was freshly washed and smelled like cinnamon thanks to May's shampoo. She would change that later with her favorite flowery scent. She was still very evidently tired, though.
"What do you mean you know?!" May asked, clearly shocked.
"I figured it out" the blunette shrugged and stood up, pacing the room. "I mean it was pretty obvious. Pikachu nowhere to be seen. Ash looking and acting - apparently - like his soul got sodomized. Ash being beyond depressed back in 2015 where both you, AND me, AND Serena failed to join him, resulting in all three of us being blocked out of his life. The pieces fall in place on their own, really"
Somehow, that made May even more depressed. How could she let herself become so blind? But for now, she could do nothing about it. Instead, she just observed Dawn. Her right eye was twitching, she had incredible dark bags under her eyes, she was moving sluggish. Overall, she looked like a hot mess - quite literally.
"Dawn?"
"Yeah?"
"When did you wake up?"
"Not sure, somewhere around 8:30am..."
"Then why-"
"...yesterday."
"WHAT?!" May yelled. "What in the world is wrong with you? Go to sleep!"
"I didn't travel 20 hours straight through the air and the sea on Pokemon and the rest on a slow-ass ship to rest, May! I will go see Ash when I get dry!"
"Dawn, get real. You look like a mad scientist right now and you can barely move! Besides why do you want to go to him that much? Looking to get the verbal whiplash I got?"
"I need to come clean to him, May. It is time to give him the full truth, my full truth."
"Which is?"
"That I love him."
"Well, it can- WAIT WHAT?" May yelled and jumped up. She didn't hear what she did, did she?
"What?" Dawn retorted, crossing her arms. "I can't chase the man I want in my life? You have Drew"
"Had Drew, and I'd rather get beamed by Solgaleo before I return to him." May corrected and crossed her own arms in front of her. "And after seven years you decided to just love him without even knowing who he is?"
"I made the mistake to wait for him to realize my feelings back in Sinnoh" The Rising Sun of Sinnoh snapped back. "Worst mistake I ever did."
"Yeah, talk about mistakes. Crap, I never realized I had competition besides Serena" May mumbled in resignation.
"Yeah, talk about com- Wait, fuck you mean competition, May Maple?"
"I mean the obvious, Dawn Berlitz. I fucking love the stupid man."
"What?! Then why and how the fuck did you get with Drew?"
"To get over him!"
"Hah- hahaha- HAHAHAHAHAHA! I never imaaagined someone was more stupid than me!"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"I waited for him to come in vain hopes, but you! You got fucked by a green-haired jackass to escape your feelings! Shit's fucking hilarious!"
"Wha- That's unfair!"
"I mean, you missed Pikachu's funeral for him!"
"Oh yeah? And why did you miss it, oh Rising Sun?"
"I was in Fiore running errands for Prof. Rowan, oh Princess."
"Hah. At least Drew was kinda hot. Rowan is halfway into Distortion!"
"How is that a fucking comparison? At least I wasn't sucking dick that looked like a football pitch instead of joining Ash's ordeal!"
"Wait- how do you know about that?" May failed to realize her mistake in time.
"HOLD UP, ACTUALLY?! YOU WERE GETTING POUNDED WHILE HE WAS TEXTING US?!"
"I- Uh- Well- Ahhh, piss off!"
"Was it at least worth it?" Dawn inquired with a cocked eye-brow.
"Uhhh... Yes? Maybe? Don't really know. Haven't felt anyone else to have a valid comparison" May admitted, blood flowing in her cheeks.
Dawn choked on her sudden laughter. "Shit, stick to your hands, girl. If you're not sure if sex was good or not, then give it up."
"And how would you now? Have you tried it?"
"No. No one would be strong enough to handle me anyway."
"At least I wasn't a virgin at 23" May finally retorted, but it was too weak of a rebuttal.
"Not a flattering comparison, May. Now that I think about it, maybe I would rather pick Rowan instead of fucking Drew." She said just to stab the knife deeper in May. "I'd bank on experience instead of roses and cash"
May, for the first time didn't answer. Was it really that bad? Well, she knew it was bad enough that she wasn't sure. She sighed and resigned.
"You win. This is the Wallace Cup all over again" May quipped and hugged Dawn. "Please sleep. You are a mess."
"A hot mess." Dawn corrected and hugged her back. "But I already told you, I need to go to speak with him!"
May released the hug and walked back, a logical question finally popped in her head. "But... You love him. I love him. Serena loves him. We don't even know if he's single anymore. How will this work out? Either two of us or all of us will break at this rate..."
Dawn, however, wasn't anxious about it. She simply shrugged. "I don't mind sharing." she said nonchalantly and threw away her towel - May bulged her eyes at her boldness - and jumped on May's bed. "Two things about that. First, I don't believe I'll ever have him for myself and frankly, I don't think I deserve him after all he's been through thanks to my absence. Second, he might be so far gone that he will need all of us. I won't take that away from him. He deserves that much." She glanced at the still flustered May that was staring at her naked figure. "Besides, I know you won't hurt him. At least, not more than you already have. Now, night-night May." She said with a yawn and closed her eyes.
May just sat in silence. Dawn was making valid points. But was she capable of something like sharing Ash? Would Ash even want to be with them? They weren't even back to friendly terms!
May sighed and turned around to leave her room to go back to shopping, like she was about to when she crashed into the blunette.
Before she even closed the door behind her, she heard Dawn snoring.
September 19, 2022, 16:00 (4:00pm)
Grand Ocean, 1 hour away from the Alola Region
Serena Yvonne-Gabena was standing at the bow of the ship, holding the railings and watching the horizon in front of her. She could finally see Alola.
When Serena reached Unova, she was in such a hurry to swim to Alola that she didn't consider flight. Not that she would be able to fly with all of them cancelled until September was still a massive mistake, however. Her geography lessons never kicked in to realize that in order to swim around the Grand Western Continent she needed to make a half a circle to pass through the continent into the Grand Ocean. It was a twenty hour trip.
But it was finally almost over. Just one hour more. The excruciating and painful wait was almost over and she would find Ash in a short bit. From the port of HeaHea, she would go straight to Manalo Island and the Manalo Mansion to find him. Should he not be there, she would wait for him. He must have food there, it wasn't like she would die waiting. But how would she break in the Alola League Mansion? It must have defenses in place. It needed some thought.
Behind the ocean-gazing Serena, a green haired man finally decided that he should at least inform her that she would be heart broken. No details, but the end result yes. Ηe sighed and walked up.
"Hello Serena. Been a long time."
The honey-blonde turned around in curiosity and the visage of Cilan Cray graced her eyes.
"Cilan?! What are you doing here?"
"I'm just going home. What are you doing here?" He inquired with a cocked brow. Of course, he knew. She would be looking for Ash.
"Ash. I need to find him. I need to tell him how sorry I am and how much I love him and- and- Pikachu is dead and I wasn't there..." She said in a rushed manner, getting flustered.
"You know? How did you find out?"
"I read it on an article on Ash's biography on 'League Gossip'..." She admitted. "But why would he hide it from us?!"
"From you, maybe. Not from the rest." Cilan spat coldly, his eyes now cold. The cat was out of the bag.
"Wh- what..?"
"You might not have been there in September of 2015 - but you honestly thought the rest of us didn't go? You thought out of all his friends none would show up?" Cilan asked her seriously. Of course he went. He wouldn't let excuses in his way when his friend looked devastated, no matter the reason for the devastation.
"I- I- Of course I didn't think that! I just... Didn't think it was anything that serious! I was under a contract, overworked, and I couldn't jump off to the other side of the world on such a short notice!"
"Neither could Bonnie and Clermont, you know. But they are in his life. Actually, they too live in Alola, down in HeaHea where we're heading." Cilan retorted coolly.
"Then why-"
"Why they didn't get blocked? Pretty easily, actually. When Clermont woke-up and saw Ash's message, he and Bonnie wouldn't stop calling him and texting him for four days straight until he gave the phone to his mother to tell them the news over the phone. The reason he wouldn't share it on his own was because it was too painful to talk about it. Us, who went to Pallet Town, heard the story from his mother. He wasn't speaking. Ever. We forgot his voice at one point. And when we did hear it, it was dead and resembling a whisper. All of this brings a question, Serena. October 22nd he deleted all contact information, put his Trainer ID under self-issued public lock and threw his old phone into the Kantonian Sea from the cliffs near the pier of Pallet. Now, Serena, let me ask you the question I was talking about. When did May Maple, Dawn Berlitz and you try to contact him about his text?"
Cilan didn't want an answer from Serena. She would find Ash Ketchum soon enough anyway, he had no reasons to get answers. Therefore, he simply turned his back to her and walked away.
Even if he did wait, no answer would leave Serena's lips. She was shaken again, but she wouldn't answer that question.
She couldn't answer that she messaged him after three months. Even her contract ended end of November, and yet she texted him on the 12th of December. She was generally overworked - and for nothing - the contract was incredibly bad but she hoped it would land her way bigger contracts. Anyone has to start from somewhere. But even when it ended and she took a two week vacation to recharge, she didn't text him. Neither during the vacation nor the week after. Until she finally did. She was too ashamed to admit that she just forgot his message.
Who would forget their obsessions?
September 19, 2022, 18:30pm
Champion's Quarters of Manalo Mansion
Manalo City, Alola Region
A freshly-woke Ash Ketchum sat up on his bed, grunting.
"I feel like my body is burned. Thank Arceus no headache..." he murmured and tried to move out of the bed fully but the bed had other plans. Plans like giving up and caving in with Ash on top.
"Fucking Lance!" he hissed and got out of the destroyed bed. He had a 'morning' routine to follow, consisting of a shower and personal hygiene, some stretches, minor workout routine, a small breakfast and meditation. Well, not meditation, way too much happening for him to meditate.
During his shower he was thinking. First came Lucario and Mewtwo. Still, Lucario had not returned and it was his fault. He talked way too far out of his rear end. 'Enemies'? Lucario and Mewtwo? Come on, he knew better than saying shit like that. What was wrong with him? Despite that, however, he did not worry. Lucario was probably in CQPR lounging with the others or somewhere in the mansion gardens. He didn't want to look for him and push for forgiveness. Lucario would come when he knew Ash had regretted his dumb words. Mewtwo on the other hand, was Mewtwo. Likely trying to scam cherry pies from Mallow's restaurant.
The next thing was May. Well, not much to think about on that. He was sad about their affair, but not a lot. She deserved his unyielding wrath. Besides, she didn't care about him. She just came to berate him for his disappearance, as if she cared. He was hiding, but not well enough. She would eventually find him if she just went to Alola, or tried to pester anyone close. No one had bothered his mother from what he knew, and she was the easiest to milk information from - at least from his experience. He never bothered to think that Madame Boss' blood was flowing through Delia Ketchum née D'Ignazio's vains. Even though he had all that knowledge from his godfather's post mortem letter.
Next, Diantha. Now wasn't that a train ride with no breaks. Despite the stupid notion of Diantha leeching him that he expressed to Mewtwo and Lucario, he never once believed that. Diantha was already way too famous, and it was his first day of real fame. The woman was close to him for seven years of being fully incognito. She had nothing to gain from him.
Moreover, he finally realized that he wasn't feeling normal friendship since yesterday. Oh yes, he remembered her speech last night - he also had a very hazy memory of whiffing the scent of cherries very close to him and a warmth enveloping him during the last moments before unconsciousness befell him. Her speech touched him deep. He felt warm and comfortable with her, and wanted her to stay more and talk to him and soothe him. Yes, she wasn't just a friend. She was his best friend! With that impossibly dense unrealization of his feelings he next thought that he should not be near her because he hurt her last night. She was lying that she wasn't hurt, he was sure of it. A white lie to not make him sad, that's what it was.
He had to take measures for this. Distancing himself would be the way to go. He would just focus on his training, striving for the power he craved. He would be the most powerful trainer and human in the world. No one would be able to go against him. No one would try to harm him. Especially not harm his friends. With him, his people would be safe from everything and everyone, and everyone caught in the attempt would be swiftly dispatched. Yes, he needed no one with him to be the perfect protector. Keep them away and protect them from distance and shadows. Just him and his Pokemon, against the hostile world. That's how it was supposed to be, meant to be! He would never let another one die because he was too weak. Maybe he should go and catch the legendaries to make sure...
Finally, he ended his shower. He stepped out, steaming due to the contact of the ice cold water he was bathing with and the hot Alolan air of late afternoon. He dried himself quickly and got dressed in some casual clothes to work out in. But before he did, he grabbed his phone to check his messages. Huh, three new messages. That's new. Usually it's just one message, at best.
The first was from his mother. I simple message, really. "Hi Ashy! I'm so proud of you! You finally made yourself known as the powerful Champion of Alola! I always believed in you, baby, you were born with greatness in your mind! You were always Champion material to mommy! And also, you are now The Myth of Alola! I'm very proud of you Ashy! But I mommy misses you, you know! At least call me sometimes, please? I know you are too busy to come to Pallet, but you can call! - Love, Mom." Of course, Delia's messages were always sappy. But they never failed to put a smile on Ash's face, no matter how small.
The next was from his second favorite woman in the world, almost like his second mother. It was from Professor Lydia Kukui née Burnet. "Congratulations big guy! Little Ash is now our very own Myth! Very fitting if you ask me, considering your history. Almost a Mythical Hero huh? Now you just catch a Mythical Pokemon and you're the full set! But anyway, how are you baby? I hope you ate when you read this, and I hope you didn't get too drunk and have a messed up head. You are always cranky with a headache. Also, make sure you come home soon for dinner, I just cannot shut your Little Brother up anymore! Kukui resigned from trying to get him to quiet down, and I'm slowly growing white hair - oh wait, hahaha! Anyway, despite all of that, there is quite a serious matter at hand. The woman named Dawn Berlitz is in Alola, probably in Akala Island right now, but my bet is not for long. I found her on the beach near the house this morning, looking like a zombie. She looked like you when you train a crazy new combo, full of lack of sleep and massive bags under the eyes and all. She is searching for you. I simply told her the command we have from you and forcefully teleported her to HeaHea. I don't know what she is up to or what she wants, but I know she is searching and won't be long until she comes knocking the main gate of the Mansion. You know, she is a bit wild it seems. I rambled - like always - and it slipped that you are drinking and she almost jumped on me to find out what we were doing to you! The nerve, if you ask me. Anyway, that's all! Can't wait to see you and have you devour all my food! Love you! - Lydia."
Dawn was in Alola too?! Ash's mind blanked at that. Why was Dawn in Alola too? Oh yeah, probably because now he was famous and the talk of everyone, and old supposed friends came back to hop on the train. Wasn't happening - and isn't even true to begin with, but Ash doesn't know that. What's next, Serena is here too?
Sadly, he was right. Cilan's message was up next. "Yo Ash! Guess what! I'm coming back baby! I'll be in HeaHea in around two hours and I'll take the private ferry to Manalo. I was thinking of popping at the mansion to cook something and watch a League Match, but your fate dealt a bad hand, my friend. You see, on both ships from Kalos to Unova and from Unova to Alola, Serena was also a passenger. I noticed her when we docked in Castelia. She was in a mad rush to get tickets to Alola. I obviously know that she is looking for you. I confronted her on the ship to Alola" Ash's eyes bulged but quickly relaxed again as he kept reading. "I didn't say anything about your story specifically. She already knew of Pikachu's death from an article on 'League Gossip', apparently. I only spoke about her not getting in touch with you and when you deleted your information. I didn't bother getting answers, as I know she'll come to the mansion the moment she can. And you'll confront her yourself. So, since I don't really care about what happens with her, I'll go to Mallow's. I won't intrude in your discussion. But call me when you can, alright Champion? See ya later old friend. - Cilan."
He wasn't surprised. Out of the three girls, he expected Serena to jump on the hype train first. She went to extreme bounds to smear herself on his fame ever since he was dubbed Hero of Kalos. She kissed him in an attempt to get her to stay with him and get famous along with him. Thank god his younger self was not as dumb as he often looked. He dodged that leech in time. Ahhh fuck, was he supposed to wait for each one of them to pop into the mansion?
Unbeknown to him, a white feline was in a corner of the room, completely disgusted at his thoughts. Despite not being able to dig too deep inside Ash's head, he knew that his thoughts and conclusions about the girls were distorted and vile beyond recognition. Ash was losing himself into warped memories and thoughts more and more each day. He wanted to dig in his head so deep and find everything about the girls, but he couldn't, unless he had a death wish.
You see, Mewtwo's probing is complete. From an individual's mind he can collect memories in their pure, complete form. Vision, feelings, smells, taste, touch. Everything. And that was his problem. To dig too deep into Ash's mind was to dig into his pain. To dig too deep into Ash's mind was to dig into his near death experiences. To dig too deep into Ash's mind was to dig into his deaths. And Mewtwo was not up to dying inside his own mind while still alive. Should he ever do that, he would feel death itself, while never dying. Not to mention he would digest seven different deaths. He would just experience the literal pain of death on his body, over and over and over and over and over since he would not forget it. And he would keep feeling it until his mind was fried and his body was left a breathing suit without a driver. A vegetable Pokemon, ever living but never living. Ash himself couldn't remain sane if it wasn't for Mew shattering his very connection to the feeling of death in the process of reviving him.
It's a weird thing that did need an explanation, and Mewtwo more or less figured it out. The brain was the first thing that died inside a body. Not literally, it was just the brain force-shutting itself upon death, way before ceasing to function entirely due to failure of non-existent blood flow. That was the reason why death was peaceful, in the end. Just mercy from Arceus on living beings.
Every single one of those concepts went straight out of the window upon resurrection.
The body was healed to completion, the mind was back up running and by noticing that the body was functional, it goes back online metaphorically. But it needed to catch up to the changes, therefore running the process of transmitting the feeling of death when the resurrected individual actually woke up. The feeling of death was an amalgamation of everything the body went through then the heart stopped. First came the pain of the blood stopping its movement inside the veins, instantly freezing the body and causing atrophy to muscles and other organs. The organs inside the body were destroying themselves in an attempt to function under no blood flow, ripping and writhing and collapsing on top of themselves. The lungs were burning in the lack of oxygen. The body was suffering due to stiffness, unable to move anymore without blood feeding the muscles. The muscles then relax, releasing everything they were holding inside, bones dislocating and crashing with each other inside the body. All of that was recorded until the moment the nerves, the pain receptors, died along with the brain that couldn't keep up operation under the lack of blood flow. All of that was applicable should the body remain dead for long enough - around 10 minutes. And resurrection was not a fast, snap-of-a-finger process. It was lengthy enough to pass the 10 minute mark.
In order to not have the resurrected individual die again from heart attack by feeling death, the recognition of death was forcibly cut out of their collective consciousness. So, death felt like sleep to them. Not recognizing nor feeling death didn't mean the truth of it was gone from their head. It was just locked behind a door that would never be opened and could not be opened. Ever locked, but always accessible by foreign minds. Well, theoretically it was possible to revert the death-lock in a brain, but in order to do so you had to go through the feeling of death first, therefore making it impossible. The only way to actually succeed was for one resurrected to perform the psy-surgery on another resurrected. And the only beings capable of such psy-surgery are basically creatures of godhood with the gift of giving life back. Ho-oh, Arceus, Xernas, Yveltal, Giratina and Mew - and by extension, Mewtwo. These beings could not feel actual death, courtesy of Arceus giving them that gift so they could perform complete resurrection - Arceus was the Creator himself, therefore above death, the feeling was just like getting scratched to Him. Mewtwo was the exception as well, unable of performing resurrection and susceptible to feeling death, but able of performing that specific psy-surgery due to being a clone of Mew in terms of powers and looks. Dialga and Celebi were also able to perform resurrection, but time-reversal on a body was exactly that. Reversal, not recreation. After the resurrection they are able to perform, neither the body nor the mind of the resurrected actually lived death because the individual was brought back in a state prior to death.
Therefore, Mewtwo could not and would not try to find answers from probing into Ash's past. Too dangerous and he still had a lot to see in this wide world. Shaking off his thoughts, Mewtwo made himself known to his unlikely friend.
"They cannot enter the mansion anyway if I don't allow it, boy." Mewtwo stated, startling Ash out of his thoughts.
"I have told you to not read my mind, Mewtwo" Ash retorted and eyed the feline.
"I am not. It's too vile, even for me. It's just that you are whispering the whole time." Ash cocked his head in confusion. He was thinking aloud? "Before the women even attempt to reach the main doors, my defenses will stop them. You know how strong my barriers are to non-authorized humans and Trainer-owned Pokemon. And knowing that they will insist on entering, I suggest you give permission for the girls to enter. Unless you wish to see them hurt. Perhaps mutilated, if stubborn enough." It seemed that Mewtwo still couldn't properly speak in a more... gentle manner. In this matter, however, he wouldn't be gentle even if he could. He knew Ash would be disturbed from that image.
And it worked like a charm. Ash blanched and hurried to the balcony to make sure he wasn't too late to keep them from harm. "Permission for May Maple, Dawn Berlitz and Serena Yvonne-Gabena to enter the mansion granted" Ash mumbled and relaxed when no one had lost a limb in his barriers. His mind quickly returned to the resentment he held for the girls he would never want to see hurt.
He turned around and started changing his clothes again since he wouldn't be training any time soon. He got in his Champion Hadrian outfit - Black jeans, black boots, ash-grey t-shirt and his black, intricate trench coat on his shoulders. His chain was missing since he didn't want the trench coat to be closed on him and his Key Stone was on his silver lighter anyway. With a last sigh, he left the room, leaving Mewtwo to roam around the mansion.
With a clouded mind he walked around the hallways of the mansion until he reached a massive double door made of some sort of black stone. It opened on its own, revealing a massive throne room that had five thrones on the far end.
It was a huge rectangular room, expertly made and designed under direct supervision from Ash Ketchum. The floor was made of ash grey-stained oak wood, the walls were made of diorite stone and the pillars decorating the room were made of pure white marble. The pillars were arrayed next to the black carpet 'corridor' leading to the thrones. There were two huge clerestory windows on each side-wall with pillars embedded in the empty between them, and a massive clerestory window covering almost the entire wall behind the thrones - clerestory windows were basically windows made of multiple stained class windows, creating intricate murals. Behind the four smaller windows where artificial lights that mimicked sunlight or moonlight depending on the time of day, shedding light on them from the outside
On the right wall, each window mural depicted something different. The first mural on the right depicted the beautiful Tapu Fini surrounded by the tranquil ocean waters of a beautiful summer morning. The second mural, closer to the back wall, depicted the fierce looking but gentle Tapu Bulu surrounded by a sun lit rocky, mountainous terrain.
The same was applied on the left. On the left wall, the first mural depicted an elegant, mysterious Tapu Lele, surrounded by many pink and purple flowers, washed by the moonlight. The second mural depicted the mighty and mischievous Tapu Koko, sanding on top of a building under the moonlight, releasing electricity around it, contrasting the midnight sky.
On the wall behind the Five Thrones, a very known Alolan mural was depicted. On the bottom of the stained glass, you could see an array of humans with their Pokemon, heads and hands lifted up in some sort of prayer. The symbol of Z-Crystals was visible around the humans, making it known that they were devoting their light energy to the divine trio above them. On the middle-right of the mural was a depiction of Solgaleo, the Legendary Pokemon Deity of The Sun. On the middle-left of the mural was a depiction of Lunala, the Legendary Pokemon Deity of The Moon. Between them, dead center of the mural, was a Pokemon twice as big as Lunala and Solgaleo. It was a depiction of Necrozma - Ultra Necrozma specifically - The Legendary Pokemon Deity of Light, The Prism Pokemon. Above them, a crude depiction of a myriad of Ultra Wormholes was shown. Under Necrozma, a massive Z-Crystal exploding with energy was depicted.
The Mansion was constructed with this room in mind. It was perfectly positioned to have the Sun and the Moon pass through the middle of the Light Trio mural on the back, perfectly lighting it up and bringing the mural to life, colors of the prism dancing on the moonlight and sunlight. The multitude of colors brought the monotone, colorless throne room to life every day and every night.
In front of the mural, five thrones were waiting in a line. The throne in the middle was significantly larger, making it known that this was the Champion's Throne. Above the throne room on the second floor was the Champion's master bedroom, and under it on the ground floor was the Alola League meeting room. Behind the thrones, subtle teleport pads were visible only if you knew what to look for. They served the main purpose of the room.
In reality, the throne room was the official Alola Elite Four Challenge area. In the front of the thrones, closer to the middle of the room was a circular mural of a kaleidoscope, sporting all the colors of the prism. The challenger would stand there, while the Elite Four and their Champion would sit on the thrones. The challenger would then select the Elite Four he wanted to challenge first and would be teleported by the pad on the kaleidoscope to the appropriate battle field, while the selected Elite would use the teleport pad behind his throne. After the battle, the challenger and the Elite would automatically reappear in their spots, where the challenger would either pick the next Elite or hear critique on his battles, decorated with parting wishes for good luck in his endeavors.
Ash really had a flavor for the magnificent. He always liked to make an impact on someone. To make a statement. The statement here was 'I made this place for me, and I will never leave'.
Ash walked silently, and knelt on one knee on the kaleidoscope, closing his eyes. He started meditation and prayers upon Arceus, the Concepts and the guardian deities. He was rarely praying.
Whenever he did pray, however, Ash Ketchum always had an audience.
Forty-five minutes later
HeaHea Port, HeaHea City, Alola Region
"So, we basically go to Manalo City and walk to Manalo Mansion? Why not just fly?" May inquired to the relaxed Dawn. They were wearing the same outfits as last day, but they were squeaky clean.
Trainer habits never really left. Trainers are used to wearing the same clothes because their attire was their identity. Most even have multiple copies of the same clothes. May and Dawn - Serena too - were always shopping and had a myriad of clothes, but for casuals they always wore their designated attire. The only clothes changing even twice a day were pieces not visible to the prying eye.
"Flying might get us in trouble. Storming The Mansion is already too risky. Don't forget that it is one of the seven League Fortresses. Defenses must be off the charts. Even excluding the Elites and the Champion, Ranger Patrols and Trainer Guards must be everywhere. Barriers, psychic Pokemon, ghost types, dark types... You already know what it's like, you've been to The Ever Grande Fortress." Dawn said coolly and spread her arms.
"Well... Guess it's worth walking the way the walk then" May resigned and sighed.
"Uh... Disgusting, Princess!" Dawn hissed. "You are not willing to walk for Ash? Do you love him or just want to get over Drew?"
"Wh-"
"Don't answer that hun. But girl, if you're serious about him, then act like it" Dawn said seriously, but not with malice. She was right, after all.
"Huh? May Maple and Dawn Berlitz? What are you doing here?" An unknown voice reached their ears and they whirled around to confront the female that addressed them.
The honey-blonde bombshell from Kalos was looking at them curiously. "Are you here to see Ash too? Do you know if he's ok?"
"Well, I should have expected you to be here, Jewel of Kalos. Nice to see you again, Serena" Dawn said and hugged the girl.
"Hi, Serena" May greeted hesitantly but kept speaking. "No, we don't know how he is, well, I do, but not exactly. We got time to share our stories" She said and a whistle was heard. The small ship to Manalo was boarding.
During the next twenty minutes, Serena shared her journey, followed by Dawn's, then May's.
"So... Ash is basically a cold blooded asshole now? No, I refuse to accept that. I mean, he might be like that right now, but he's just hurt, right? We all failed him, and he was scarred." Serena finally said.
"May be, but first we must discuss some things between us." Dawn said seriously. "Serena, you still love Ash?"
"Huh? Of course. Always have, always will. I will be with him eventually, no matter what." She said flatly. Her love for Ash was known. Ever since she got lost in the Pokemon Ranch of Professor Oak during that fateful Summer Camp. A childish fascination. She never forgot him and occasionally sent him letters across the years. Then, he came to Kalos for the sixth year of his journeys. She fell for him all over. A teenage crush. The whole time he travelled with him, she got to know him better, deeper. By the time he left, she was a little puddle of feelings held for him. A true love. Held for a single man, never yielding, never changing, never ending. Eight years since he left from Kalos, she still loved him. Thought about him, sent him letters that always returned because the messenger Pidgeot could not find him. Sent him texts on a number that didn't exist. She called a number that didn't exist. Letters sent to Pallet Town never returned. He was gone. And she was still hoping he'll show himself somehow and she'd run to him. And that's what happened. She would find him, reach him, win him. She would be his forever and ever, until the sun fades. Ash Ketchum was her open love. And her secret obsession.
"That's exactly the small problem we have. I'm going to confess my love to him." Dawn stated in a tone like discussing the weather. Of course, Serena choked on her cup of hot coffee.
"WHAT?!"
"That's exactly what I said when I heard it" May quipped.
"But- but... How? Since when!?" Serena inquired.
"Since Sinnoh. I was too much of a scared little girl to admit it to him. And I won't lie, he would probably not take me seriously. I was twelve, after all." She knew that her age didn't matter to her feelings. At twelve she had triple the mental age, without being yet corrupted by adultery. She had the image of cute strolls and flowers and holding hands.
"I was twelve too during Hoenn, Dawn. But I was stupid huh." May rolled her eyes, but Dawn was always multiple steps ahead.
"Didn't stop you from getting with Drew instead of opening up to Ash."
"I was 15 when I got with him."
"Yeah, and Ash was in Kalos when you got with Drew. If I remember Ash was still mentally alive back then, yet you didn't speak to him"
"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT" Serena yelled, ready to blow her top off. "May?! What does Dawn mean?" She said through her teeth, but she wasn't dumb enough to not understand.
"I love him too" May said in resignation, no point keeping it inside anymore.
"But how the fuck is this going to work? I suddenly have competition-" Serena started.
"We still don't know if he has a girlfriend" Dawn interjected by lifting a finger, getting a deadly stare from Serena.
"Thanks for reminding me sweetie. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, how are we-" Serena started again.
"We just go there, request audience, and it's up to him whether he talks to all of us or separately" Dawn interjected again by lifting a second finger, making Serena turn red from irritation.
"Yes, whatever. How is anything going to work when all-" Serena started for the third time.
"I mean, I don't-" Dawn interjected for the third time, but it wasn't going to work.
"Will you fucking stop that?" The blonde hissed, getting a giggle from May and a chuckle from Dawn.
"I am just cutting it short and sweet, dear Jewel. As I said to May, I don't mind sharing. As long as it's a Berlitz Approved female, it's fine." The blunette said with a shrug.
"Huh. Well" Serena mimicked Dawn's shrug and agreed. "Whatever makes him happy is fine by me. That's all I want, his happiness."
"So, we're giving our dear little Ashy a harem?" Dawn said naughtily with a cocked eye-brow, but May decided it's time to stop the foolishness right then and there.
"No, Ash won't be getting no harem. He'll choose one of us. As for me, I doubt he will choose any one of us. I only want him to forgive me and I'll do anything about it." May finalized and looked at the other women, who didn't believe a word.
"So, you're basically telling us, that you will tell him you love him and always had loved him and that you're stupid, yet you are not interested in being loved in return?" Serena inquired with a cocked eyebrow, clearly not believing anything.
"Sheesh, I've been telling you. If you seriously want this, May dear, act like it. You sound like you are trying to make a fool out of all of us and him in the process." Dawn shrugged yet again - probably her favorite gesture of expression.
May fell silent finally. Of course she wanted his love. She wanted to be his. She wanted to correct all her mistakes. But she was so destroyed by grief, so much so that she didn't believe that she would ever succeed - and even if she did, she would not deserve it.
- "Attention all passengers. We are docking on Manalo City Port in five minutes. Please get ready for disembarking." -
"Well ladies. It's the final stretch." Dawn said with a relaxed smile, which then quivered and fell. She had an important question.
"How do we go to the mansion...?"
September 19, 2022, 19:45 (7:45pm)
Manalo Mansion Gates
Manalo City, Alola Region
Surprisingly, the walk of the three girls was eerily quiet. They were surrounded by tension from the ever nearing confrontation with the man they all loved. They just kept walking, only asking the people of the city for directions. Eventually, the trio of regrets, closure and obsessions reached a massive, metallic gate leading to the outdoors area of the Mansion. The shocking part was, the mansion gate was open.
"Is this a trap?" May whispered.
"I don't know, but it see- DAWN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Serena hissed, but she was ignored. Dawn casually strolled through the open gate, and nothing happened.
The girls hesitantly followed and caught up.
"This place is empty" May said while looking around. "I mean, no defense Pokemon. No humans around to check the boundaries. No big walls, no barriers. Nothing."
"It is weird. Maybe it's a psychic illusion?" Serena added.
"Even if it is, we can't do anything about it. We just keep going." Dawn said, tired of their hesitance. She was here with a purpose, and she would fulfil it.
May and Serena couldn't refute Dawn's statement, so they just kept going.
Eventually, the trio reached the wooden double door of the Manalo Mansion. They stopped for a moment, and Dawn moved to knock on the door. The door in question, however, opened on its own before she could reach it. The two folds of the door opened slowly, and behind them a pair of glowing, feline, azure eyes floating on nothing greeted them. All of them reached for their Pokeballs, but their hands wouldn't move under the psychic hold.
"What are you and what do you want?" May hissed, getting a widening of the eyes in response. A monotone, distorted voice whispered to them.
"Don't dare ask ME what I want, woman. You are inside Manalo Mansion. This isn't your house, this is the Alola League's House. You don't ask questions, you answer question. Learn your place before you meet him." The voice said, getting a triple sound of gulps from the girls. "The Champion rests in the throne room. Giant onyx door on the first floor." Then, the eyes disappeared.
The girls looked around the lobby area. I was a massive open space made of dark oak wood. In front of them, there was an opening with an archway and a wooden door between the two staircases leading to the first floor. The right wall of the room had two doors and the same was mirrored in the left wall. The walls were decorated with portraits of paintings and photographs related to Alola and their myths. Above the archway, you could see the first floor, along with the giant doors the creature mentioned.
Dawn would not waste another minute and ran up the stairs and reached the double door. Serena and May also ran, until they stopped in front of it. They didn't dare speak. They knew the door would open on its own.
And indeed, it opened, letting them walk inside, eyes bulging at the eerie magnificence of the throne room.
In the middle of it, on a colorful circular shape embedded on the floor was a man standing. Back turned to the double doors and head upwards, seemingly looking at the mural behind the thrones. His hands were spread wide, palms lit with faint blue light. The Aura sense training he was performing let him know they were here since they stepped inside the Mansion proper. And that was why he shook of his shock in time at the triple visit.
"Welcome, gentlewomen." The man announced and turned around. The light from his hands and eyes fainted, paving the way the stone cold eyes of Ashton Hadrian Ketchum to make their appearance. "I have been expecting you, even though I did not expect you together. Especially you Maple, I thought I made it pretty clear yesterday that our business was over. Let's make this sweet, as my patience is worse than you remember, if you remember me properly at all. You see, your friend Maple over there had the notion of my getting depressed over a lost battle. Obviously, her teen dick cravings performed a lobotomy through her womanhood." His voice was hiding cruel amusement. Unless he somehow softened up, this was the Ash they would 'discuss' with.
"Let me cut some affairs sort. I am aware that all three of you know of Pikachu's death, and the time-window for condolences has been closed for about..." He checked his watch in an ironic manner. "... Six years. You might have figured out that this is indeed the reason all of you are out of my life. You toss me, I toss you harder. That's what I do when people discard me at my most vulnerable. And now, just a little seven years late you are back in front of me. As I said to miss Maple, over there" he said with a generic hand gesture "Better late than never it seems. So, let's get this underway, shall we ladies?"
Despite his coldness and malignant sarcasm, Ash somehow managed to make it look charming. He was too good at it. Almost like Giovanni.
"Berlitz and Yvonne, state your business looking for me in Alola."
The girls were dead silent. May wasn't exaggerating - quite opposite, in fact. She didn't credit him enough. The man in front of them was all business, zero bullshit and colder than Articuno's breath. Dawn was the first one to speak.
"Hi Ash. Remember me? I sure hope so, since you kicked me out of your life" The blunette spoke, ire clear in her voice.
"Of course I remember you, Dusk Berlitz" Ash spat in irony, making her eyes bulge. "I prefer Dusk in your case, Dawn is inaccurate. After all, you not being able to visit Pallet from Fiore of all places, was indeed the Dusk of a fucking friendship."
"Ash, you are-" May interjected, but...
"Shut the fuck up Maple." The Champion cut her off and her mouth smacked itself shut. A complete repeat of last night. And Dawn would not help her.
"Don't cut me off again. Neither of you." She staked and peered her midnight blue eyes at Ash's auburn slits. "Now Ash, you are being way too harsh."
"Am I? The fucking MAGNET TRAIN connects to Fiore, Berlitz. Max, I could understand not being there. He was in Orre during Sandstorm Season. The only reason he is not in my close circle is because this useless-brunette-worshipper-of-Drew's-dick is his sister!" He spat in rage. May was already leaking tears.
"First of all, May broke up with Drew three years ago." Dawn said. "Secondly, I fucking told you I would contact you as soon as possible, AND I DID. I tried contacting you when I returned from Almia!"
"Almia? Weren't you in Fiore? Can you not keep up with your own lies, Berlitz?"
"I needed to transfer test results from the Ranger Union of Fiore to Almia to solve the issues with their rampaging Avatar of Rayquaza. And you know I am way too fucking smart to trip up in my own lies, Ketchum! Also, in case you forgot, I was never able to fucking lie to you and I can't do it now! Nothing changed about me Ketchum! My body only grew and my eyes saw adulthood! I am still the Dawn Berlitz you knew and adored, remember?"
Ash almost ran on top of her, being about a foot away before stopping. "The only thing I fucking remember, Dawn Berlitz, is the empty fucking room I reserved for you for a whole fucking month!" He spat in blind rage. His eyes were bulged and left one was twitching, while veins were popping on his temples. Dawn backed away for a single step, before setting herself straight.
"I texted you October 23rd of 2015, Ketchum. The moment I stepped foot in Sinnoh and completed my assignment. I took a shower, then bought online tickets for Vermillion. After a day of no response, I realized that the number I texted didn't fucking exist! I texted one month after your text. If you waited for a month, when exactly did you remove me?" She asked in matching rage.
For the first time, he didn't speak. Dawn was able to shut him up. He was taken by surprise. She couldn't lie to him. He saw the truth in her. She missed him -he missed her - for a day? He eyed her, then backed up a few steps.
"Serena Yvonne-Gabenna! State your business." He hissed in impatience.
Serena for her part couldn't really respond properly. She had no idea what to say. She was scared of his coldness, and didn't know how to approach. So she decided to be lame.
"I- I-... I missed you..." She whispered lamely, avoiding eye contact. But that got Ash even angrier.
"What? You came here with that bullshit?" He asked incredulously. "You missed fucking what, Yvonne? Besides the fact that you missed on coming to Pallet just to fulfill a contract that I could pay to you with pocket change. WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU MISS BESIDES THAT?!"
"YOU!" She yelled back. "I missed you, Ash! I have been searching for you these last 7 years! Messenger Pidgeot couldn't find you, your contacts were gone, Trainer ID was locked, letters to Pallet never returned. I was searching everything! News, articles, battles, EVERYTHING!"
"Ah, I see what you missed. You missed the chance to jump on the train to fame, ran by The Hero of Kalos! You tried jumping on it when we went different ways, but thank god I missed a fucking leech!" He spat in disgust.
"Wh-what?! How dare you?!" Serena retorted with tears welling in her eyes. The man just destroyed her declaration of love right in front of her.
Ash took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. "I am running out of patience here." He whispered to himself, but loud enough for the girls to hear it.
Sniffing, May spoke up. "C- Can I talk now?" she whispered, and Ash looked at her with obvious curiosity.
"I was wondering why am I seeing you again, Maple. What would you possibly want?" He asked, then acted like he remembered something, posture getting straight and face lighting up in glee. "Ah yes! I promised you to take you back to Drew's precious dick! I forgot you needed it to forget the thought of the disgusting circular strip of flesh, bones, blood of the once proud Pika-"
"Ash, please!" May sobbed and looked at him.
"Fine, fine. Let me tell you something real quick" He said, and then everything changed. His face from cold, ironic and malevolent turned to pure sadness. Maybe anguish too? It was like he flipped a switch. "Unfortunately, no matter how much I might hate you all and how badly you used me, I always care about people close to me. I might have become a stepping stone for you to laugh at, but I still have useless feelings that I just fail to discard. And while I might hate you, May Maple, I don't enjoy causing you pain. To none of you. So I will make this affair short. I will arrange private League Deoxys Jets for each of you to return home. I want you to give your families my best regards. That way we will avoid this unfortunate affair between us and mutually delete each other from our lives. I will make arrangements immediately, and within the next three hour-"
"Shut the fuck up Ketchum" Dawn's voice declared loudly, echoing in the room, causing Ash to flinch in the process. Then to rage. May and Serena noticed that Ash's and Dawn's rage were eerily similar. "I didn't travel 20 hours straight without rest through the skies and seas to have you send me packing back home! I will STAY here, whether you want it or not!"
"You will what? What are you saying, Berlitz? There is no way I'm keeping you around." Ash retorted with a scoff, but before the mad blunette could respond, the brunette interjected.
"I did not come to get sent back Ash." May shook her head. "I am not leaving."
"What?" The raven-haired man asked incredulously. "Yvonne, don't tell me you have the same-"
"Yes" The blonde replied flatly. "And stop calling me Yvonne, I prefer hearing my name out of your mouth."
Ash stared at her blankly. "Are you all completely insane? Tell me the reason you are here. It's been seven fucking years. State your real reason." Ash said, resigned from the situation. One funny truth about him was that his insane amounts of power did not cover the ability to understand women.
"We love you, Ash" Dawn said in his face.
"..."
Ash blinked.
"..."
"...What?"
He gazed at May and Serena, who both nodded. He stood there in silence for a bit.
A bit more.
A bit more.
A tiny bit more.
And then laughed.
And kept laughing. It was hysteric to him. The girls eyed each other, worried and curious at his reaction. Ash kept on laughing, and laughing, and laughing... At one point, he no longer had breath to laugh with.
"Y- Y- You love me? All of you? Pff- Hahahahaha! This is pathetic! What a pathetic fucking lie! I see what is going on!" He announced in malevolent glee, and the girls flinched.
"Miss Yvonne-Gabena found the new title to chase! She wants to be the girl of the 'Myth of Alola' just like she tried to be the girl of the Hero of Kalos! The fame will boost her along, making her a popstar!"
"Miss Maple on the other hand, lost the green carpet of Drew's green drapes and now fancies the green of my pockets to jump-start her return to the Coordinator circuit!"
"And miss Berlitz in front of me realized that being Rowan's lackey doesn't pay enough to salvage her failed career! And now, they saw the Mystery Champion Hadrian being their old fucking stepping stone and decided to step on it again for a chance at a nice living! So they come up to my house, start their fucking parade and feed me pathetic, petty and sappy lies about feelings and acting like-"
*CRACK*
The hardest hit Ash ever felt in his life shook his world and knocked the disgusting speech straight out of his mouth.
A slap of pure fury and pain connected with his jaw and dislodged it, dropping him like a sack of dead flesh on the wooden floor. He smashed his head on the floor and it took him a couple moments to see straight. With hazy eyes, he wiped his mouth and felt a hot sticky liquid and noticed his mouth tasted like metal.
His eyes fell on the trio. Serena and May were staring at him with determined, flooded with tears eyes. Dawn was in front of him, pure rage and tears on her face. She was crying madly, but her face was distorted into a scowl fierce enough to make him do a double-take at his words. They really didn't mean that outlandish claim, did they?
Dawn's palm was glowing cherry red, the strength she unleashed on him evident.
He slowly stood up in front of them with head hung. He then spat his blood on the floor and slowly raised his head.
His eyes were cold but alit with the glow of rage. Patience long gone. He slowly paced towards Dawn, ever closer. He finally stopped in front of her face, looking down at her. Their faces were dangerously close with each other. In response, she raised her head to look at him in his eyes - she had to, considering their slight height difference - in pure defiance. She was surprised but desperately tried to hide it. Ash's eyes, besides the coldness and rage, they looked at her in a manner she would see many years ago. The adorable annoyance she got out of him. The annoyed, but welcoming glint in his eyes. The hint of adoration in them.
'She really never changed. She is still my little Dawn.' Ash thought, getting a mental roar from himself aimed to himself for the childish and worthless thought. None of his feelings mattered in front of his chase for power! He needed to protect everyone in order to never let a RRI happen again!
"Out. Out of my fucking Mansion. All of you. I don't care what you do. Stay in Manalo, Akala, Melemele, I don't care. But I will not deal with you today. Leave. Now." He whispered in Dawn's face, loud enough to be heard. The girls however, didn't move. And that earned his ire.
"I SAID NOW!" he hollered and smashed his fist on the pillar next to him. May and Serena flinched and immediately turned around and left, intent on going to the Manalo City Pokemon Center. They had enough progress today. He didn't kick them out this time, and he said he won't do more today. That meant another day. They immediately bolted. They couldn't handle more verbal attacks.
Dawn, however, didn't even twitch out of her spot. She bore the full brunt of his intimidating voice with pride, unflinching.
They both stood in silence, staring each other down, never moving. Neither of the two shifted position, Ash was still almost on top of her, faces close enough to seal deals in one miss-step. At least two full minutes passed.
"Your friends left, Dawn." He said, for the first time using her name. She finally heard it from his mouth. She melted. Well, the truth was she had been melting for a long time. Despite the sadness from his absurd claims, his fierce and cold attitude turned her on. Above all, she had conviction - she was here with a purpose and wouldn't leave for nothing, she was completely serious about that. But his visage above her, beautiful auburn eyes piercing her soul... The feeling that she was completely open to him... She loved it all. She loved the man in front of her. She was not afraid for a single second. He was intimidating just enough. She knew Ash was in there, and it was showing in front of her. He couldn't really hide, either. He would never hurt her. Even though she would very much love some... rough treatment. Her mind was racing uncontrollably at this point, and she was about to squirm under him. "I suggest you do the same."
"No." She whispered to him. At this point, he was close enough for her to feel his breath from above. Her eyes were darting from his eyes to his lips - as much as she could from that close distance anyway.
"Don't make me force you out Dawn." He whispered back, his breath caressing her lips.
"You won't. And you can't. I will not leave this place." She whispered back. Ash noticed that her breath smelt of coffee. He fucking loved coffee... She also smelled of a specific flower he hadn't come in contact with for a long time... Was it Gracidea?
"Just... Shut up Dawn.." He whispered back, getting hypnotized by feeling her so close.
"Make me." She whispered and her eyes looked at him with iron determination. Then she tried to hit him again - without any power behind it this time - but her hand got grabbed on the way, causing her to yelp adorably, and naughtily. Neither of them stepped away.
"Don't even try little Dawn." He whispered at her and squeezed her forearm, just enough to lock her from moving it. It drove Dawn even more off the edge.
In the meantime, he wasn't even realizing the amount of sexual tension in the air. He was moving on pure instinct, but knew well enough that all hostility died by now. He couldn't even understand it properly, for Arceus sake.
"What will you do about it, Ash? Pin me down on this pillar to show me that you are in charge?" She inquired in a seductive, lust filled whisper that cause his spine to shiver.
"Do it pussy." She provoked the Champion cockily, hoping that he did.
Ash complied without a second thought by grabbing her by the waist and pinning her on the pillar he punched, causing a muffled moan to escape from the blunette. No pain was involved in the process.
Despite the movement, they were still as close as before, if not closer. Her legs had been slightly spread unconsciously. Now Dawn was intently staring at his lips.
"You know I was never a pussy, little Dawn. How could my cheerleader forget that?" He told her in a soft, yet cold voice. "I thought you were my number one fan."
"I didn't. And I still am. Always was. Always will be. Don't fucking forget that." She bit back and looked at his eyes. "And I always loved you. And I still do. Always will. Don't fucking forget that either!"
Ash blacked out. He could see it in her eyes that she wasn't lying. She couldn't physically lie to him. He just couldn't process it. Why? Why now? Why not then? He liked her too! Why didn't she say anything then? Why didn't she show it? Wait. Did she? He had no idea. He had no idea how women worked back then. He still couldn't figure it out even though some things where easier.
But she just wants his money, nothing more!
No, he had no money back then, would she really wait seven years for the off-chance he made it big?
She didn't come to Pallet!
Not immediately, but she tried to come the moment she had the chance!
That's no excuse, she should have come at once, he was hurting!
Would he drop everything in her place where she was carrying important data to save a whole region?
Still not an excuse.
But cutting everyone off for seven years and giving no chances is an excuse?
They don't deserve chances!
If they don't, why would he deserve a chance to fix the pain of September 18th?!
His internal conflict got erased. All thoughts were removed forcibly from his mind, and he was enveloped by a feeling of weird, foreign - but kind of familiar - feeling of bliss. It kind of reminded him of something involving cherries, but right now it was coffee and Gracidea (?) flower.
Dawn, in a moment of pure impulse, pinned against the pillar of marble between his strong arms closed the minimal distance between their lips. He also tasted of coffee... Oh the bliss!
The kiss at first was very, very gentle. It took him a moment to realize, but with his empty mind the subconscious and his instincts kicked in. In unusual for him impulse, he responded to the kiss. Which made Dawn violently attack his lips in response. He responded in kind and the duo started making out with her in earnest.
The violent back and forth of their lips and tongues fighting with each other provoked him to grab her by the waist and smash her back on the pillar, getting an over-excited moan out of her. For her part, she ran a hand through the back of his head, finding hold on his hair, while the other hand was on his back gripping tightly. Their kiss was way too good.
But nothing good lasted enough in the recent years of Ash Ketchum's life.
The door was smashed open, and a panicked Gladion burst through, freezing at the sight of Ash and a blue haired cutie devouring each other on a pillar of the throne room. He shook himself out of it, the situation was too dire.
"ASH!" Gladion yelled.
The impact of Gladion's voice was way too hard. The duo separated like they were pulled apart by a bomb. Ash, regaining his sanity rushed backwards - far enough to crash into the pillar on the opposite side of the path created by the lined pillars. Both him and Dawn were redder than the falling sun behind the Light Trio mural. Ash turned to Gladion with a panicked look. "Y- Y- Yes... Gladion?" he mumbled.
"Level 0 Ultra Beast invasion. The whole of Poni is in danger, we need to move!" Gladion yelled. He was looking like a mess, and his arm was flowing blood.
Ash froze and whirled around to look at Gladion. Kissing Dawn was completely irrelevant and unimportant at this point. Ash's cold and wrathful demeanor came back with a vengeance, this time mixed with fear.
"MEWTWO! CHARIZARD GRENINJA LATIAS LUCARIO INFERNAPE AND KARTANA. TELEPORT LATIAS FOR FLIGHT, FAST!" He screamed to the Mansion with fear in his voice, and suddenly he started running towards the back of the room, straight into the mural.
"Ash!" Dawn yelled, and he stopped for just a moment.
"Don't you dare move from this place. If you move I'll send you packing to Johanna." He stated coldly and continued running.
He leaped and grabbed the back of his throne, propelling him forward, straight into the clerestory window. Dawn almost screamed, but the window just vanished and Ash fell into the void below. Next thing she saw was a red blur carrying him into the horizon.
The blonde man who called him had also disappeared and she was left alone. Stay here? She had other plans. A Togekiss appeared and she mounted it.
"Sending me to mom, bullshit Ketchum. I will send you to yours if you get fucking hurt. I didn't get here to lose you because I was sucking my thumb inside your fucking house." She mumbled to herself and checked her Pokeballs. Everyone was here. With a glint of determination in her eyes, she patted Togekiss' head.
"Togekiss, let's fight!"
Aether Foundation Level 3 Files.
Clearance required for access: Level 3 Personnel or above
File 499: The Seven League Fortresses.
Compiled and documented by Aether President Lusamine Aether.
Kanto: The Indigo Castle
Located on the side of Mountain Silver on the west of Vermillion City. Constructed during the tenure of the Legendary Indigo Champion Alexander Oak during the year 1889.
Johto: The Silver Caverns
Located deep inside Mountain Silver, accessible from a hidden path behind the Silver Conference Stadium in Silver City. Origins unknown. People without permission are found on the top of Mountain Silver, Pokemon knocked out. Legends say that an extremely powerful trainer resides at the top, ever training. The people found at the top have no recollection of the events they lived through, the only word they would use to describe their ordeal being 'battle'.
Hoenn: The Ever Grande Fortress
Located on the top of Ever Grande Island, ever looming above Ever Grande City. It accessible by ascending a waterfall. Created during the First Pokemon War in 1914 in an attempt to fortify the Hoenn Region of Nihon. Nowadays used as the home for the Hoenn League.
Sinnoh: The Lily of The Valley Palace
Located near the top of Lily of The Valley Island. Constructed during the tenure of the Second Champion of Sinnoh, Lily Akagi in 1908.
Unova: Vertress Hill
Located behind Vertress City. It is an artificial hill made by the Legendary Unova Champion William Black using unknown forces in 1928. The Unova League itself is located inside the hill from an archway near the top, and reaches as deep as 500 meters underground.
Kalos: Lumiose Tower
Located in the middle of Lumiose City. Literally being the Prism Tower of Lumiose. The relatively new League of Kalos doesn't have an official base yet, using the top of the Tower as their base since 2009. Kalos joined the United Regions in 2002.
Alola: Manalo Mansion
Located on the artificial Manalo Island. Constructed under direct supervision of the First Champion of Alola, Ashton Hadrian Ketchum in 2020. The Mansion employs exactly zero Pokemon Rangers, zero Trainer Guards and zero Pokemon and is easily accessible on foot. It is, however, the Fortress with the strongest defenses, courtesy of the Legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. Apparently, it set up defenses and actively protects Manalo Mansion of its own volition.
Fancy seeing you here! Thank you once more for reading! I hope none is displeased by the side-protagonist focused chapter, but I was always of the belief that a proper setting must be set before the main thing. Just like appetizer before the main course!
Now... I don't want no pitchforks for the harem approach. It's not even certain that a harem will actually happen. And even if it does happen to it's full extend, it will be quite a bit down the road. But since I don't want to flood this place with just my thought processes and ideas, feel free to either pm me, review, or message me on my discord posted in my profile!
One last point. Ash will not ever become a wuss in anything other than women. I make it very obvious he has no idea what he's feeling and doing. In fighting and every other matter, he will still be the cold motherfucker I'm learning to love while I'm writing him.